


bodies are made of stardust, lives are made of decisions

by ThePackWantstheD



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But not explicit, Developing Relationship, F/M, Family, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Not a Slow Burn Tho, Steph is seventeen and Jay is nineteen, Teen Pregnancy, We've only got eight months people this is definitely not a slow burn, it is referenced, they have sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-24 03:23:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13802349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePackWantstheD/pseuds/ThePackWantstheD
Summary: "I'm sixteen and pregnant," she began. There was no one else in her life that Stephanie could talk to about this, so Stephanie spilled her guts without caring that the man she was spilling them to was a crime lord. "My baby daddy fled the city during the cataclysm. My father is in jail because he was a supervillain and my mother is coping with that so badly that there's absolutely no way that I can tell her about this pregnancy. I kissed Robin a few times, but he has a girlfriend. Even if he didn't have a girlfriend, it's not like I could ask him to help me with the baby because a: it's definitely not his and b: he won't even give me a hint about who he is."Stephanie wasn't sure what she was expecting the Red Hood to say about everything she dumped on him, but there was absolutely no way she would have guessed that the next words out of his mouth would be, "Well, do you want my help?"or: Stephanie and Jason meet when Stephanie's pregnant and it changes both of their lives.





	1. Month Two

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote [this](http://thepackwantsthed.tumblr.com/post/169332638015/okay-so-ive-been-wanting-to-write-a-fic-with) a while a go and people seemed to enjoy it so now we have a fic!

**week six:** When Harry met Sally, only with a crime lord, an amateur vigilante, and an embryo.

  
Stephanie sat on the rooftop, her knees drawn up to her chest and her face buried in them.

She was dressed in the bright purples of her Spoiler costume since she'd been planning on going around on patrol. She'd only made it a few blocks from her house before she started thinking about the baby growing within her. She had been about to stop a mugging when she suddenly remembered the revelation she'd been earlier that week and started worrying about what she would do if she got hit somewhere that would hurt the baby. She'd dropped one of her boots on the would-be mugger, the distraction giving the victim just enough time to take off, then ran off so she could panic.

Stephanie had been panicking all week, but she thought freaking out was probably acceptable given the circumstances.

"Fuck. Are you okay?" Stephanie wasn't sure who she was expecting, because while the voice was deep like Batman's he wasn't likely to swear like that and while Robin was likely to be out around now she wasn't anywhere near his patrol routes, but when she turned her head she found herself looking at the Red Hood. He was making his way across the roof to her, helmet obscuring his face but something worried in his steps. "Did you get kicked low? Is the baby okay? Are you feeling any cramps or pain or anything?"

Stephanie stared at him, feeling some of her panic fade away in favor of befuddlement. Her life was an absolute shit show, but there was something about the strangeness of the Red Hood being so obviously worried that made that matter less.

The Red Hood wasn't on Batman and Robin's radar. She'd asked about it once since she and the Hood ran in the same areas. Robin had told her that they knew about him but that they had other cases going and a rising crime lord took a backseat to Poison Ivy and the Joker.

If Stephanie was completely honest, she wasn't entirely sure what she thought about him. He was killing people, but they were gangsters and pedophiles. They were the type of people that made Crime Alley as terrible as it was. He was killing people, but he was also instructing any drug dealers under his control to stay the fuck away from the schools and watching over the working girls. Sometimes it took a while, but he always followed through on his threats of dismemberment and castration for those who hurt them.

The Red Hood was doing bad things, but the things he was doing were turning Gotham's slums into a safer place.

Stephanie couldn't really find it in her to condemn that.

There was something incredibly strange about watching someone who did things like that, whose morals confused Stephanie's own, make his way across the rooftop with an obvious worry because he thought something had happened to Stephanie and her baby. It was a sort of concern and humanity that she found difficult to attribute to a man who did the things the Red Hood did.  
  
Skidding across the last few feet between them, the Red Hood kneeled beside her. "Do you need a hospital or-"

"I'm fine," Stephanie said, managing to find her voice despite the strangeness of the situation.

"Are you sure?" he asked. His hands hovered near her shoulders, not quite touching but ready to help her if she asked for it. "Because I've heard that Spoiler is pretty hands on. If you got hit then-"

"You know who I am?"

"Of course I do. We operate in the same areas. It's good to know who you're up against." He asked again, "Are you really sure you're okay?"

"I didn't fight anyone," she told him. "I started panicking about everything before I got that far."

The Red Hood hummed, rocking backwards and out of her space now that he'd been assured that she didn't need his help. "What's everything?"

"I'm sixteen and pregnant," she began. There was no one else in her life that Stephanie could talk to about this, so Stephanie spilled her guts without caring that the man she was spilling them to was a crime lord. "My baby daddy fled the city during the cataclysm. My father is in jail because he was a supervillain and my mother is coping with that so badly that there's absolutely no way that I can tell her about this pregnancy. I kissed Robin a few times, but he has a girlfriend. Even if he didn't have a girlfriend, it's not like I could ask him to help me with the baby because a: it's definitely not his and b: he won't even give me a hint about who he is."

A long silence stretched between them.

Stephanie wasn't sure what she was expecting the Red Hood to say about everything she dumped on him, but there was absolutely no way she would have guessed that the next words out of his mouth would be, "Well, do you want my help?"

"What?" she said. Then, as she realized what he said, she asked, "With what?"

"Anything," he said. "You said your mom isn't coping? Do you need money for an abortion?"

Stephanie's arms tightened around her knees, bringing them closer to her body in an act of protection. Despite the shit show that was her life, Stephanie had never considered abortion. There were a lot of terrible things in the world, but there were also fantastic things likes waffles and milkshakes and midnight dance parties. She wanted her child to see all of them, even if it wasn't with her.

"Okay, no abortion," the Red Hood said, obviously reading her motion. "What about a doctor? You'll need one regardless of whether your planning on keeping or giving the up the baby. Do you have one yet? Do you need help finding one? Do you need help paying for it? Do you need-"

"Why are you offering me all of this?" Stephanie asked, cutting through his rambling. "Aren't you supposed to be a criminal or something?"

"I might be a criminal," he said, "but you aren't."

"I'm a vigilante."

"You're a pregnant teenager who needs help."

Stephanie stared at him. It was getting harder to see the Red Hood as a villain. His actions helped Gotham's slums in a way that Batman never could. And now he was sitting here offering to help her in an action that was a far more personal and grounded way of trying to help someone who lived in the area he was trying to hard to improve. It didn't even seem to matter to him that she regularly kicked the asses of guys like him.

"You don't know me," Stephanie said. "And I don't know you. How am I supposed to trust you to help me?"

"Well that's an easy fix."

He reached up towards his helmet. His fingers caught on something, probably latches of some kind, then he was pulling the helmet off. His face had a youthfulness to it that made her think he was near her age, but a sharpness and lack of fat that made her think he was probably a little older. Eighteen or nineteen, she guessed. His eyes were a bright shade of blue. It wasn't the light shade associated with the sky or the ocean, but a shade that was darker than both. His hair was a mop of raven, curling around his ears. However, there was a thick streak of white in the front that was sticking to his forehead.

Stephanie's current position made it clear just how bad her decision making skills could be, so it wasn't that surprising that she found a crime lord attractive.

"Hi," he said, lips turning up in an amused smile. He held a hand out. "I'm Jason Todd."

The name was familiar, but Stephanie couldn't quite remember why.

"Hi," she returned. She hesitated for only a moment before reaching up, pushing her head back and pulling her mask down. She reached for his hand. "I'm Stephanie Brown."

"Well, Stephanie, do you want to get lunch tomorrow?" Jason asked. "We can talk about what you need and how I can help you with it."

"Yeah...Lunch sounds good."

She knew she shouldn't have trusted him so easily, but Stephanie felt like she was drowning and Jason was the only one reaching to help her.

* * *

"There is no way you're Jason Todd."

Jason had his eyes down, focusing on the novel in his hand, but now he looked up to meet Stephanie's gaze.

She was standing behind the chair on the other side of the table. She wore a pair of dark blue jean shorts with a white tee-shirt for a band that Jason didn't know. She'd tucked the shirt into the shorts. Despite the warm summer weather, she'd tied a red and black flannel around her waist. Her hair was a mess of wild blonde curls, surrounding her face and falling down just past her shoulders.

She was looking at him with her mouth pressed in a line and her eyes sparked with something between anger and confusion.

"Hello," Jason greeted. He closed his book, kicking his leg out so his toe caught on the chair in front of her and pushed it out a bit. "Sit down. I haven't ordered yet, but I got us both lemonade. It's supposed to be good for pregnant woman and it's got more flavor than water."

Stephanie took the seat he'd pushed out, but instead of responding to his comment about lemonade she leaned forward and hissed, "Jason Todd has been dead for four years."

Jason hummed a bit, correcting, "Not really. I was only dead for like six months."

"That's not possible," Stephanie said. "People don't come back from the dead."

"I mean it's not likely, but it's possible." He set his book down on the table, setting it off to the side so it wouldn't be in the way whenever they got around to ordering and ended up with food on the table. He asked, "Didn't your google search include images? You should be able to tell it's me."

"It did," she said. "But there are lots of ways to make yourself look like someone that's dead."

"Why would I choose to make myself look like some stupid kid from crime alley?"

"That stupid kid was Bruce Wayne's adopted son." Jason hated that it took a significant amount of effort on his part not to react to Bruce's name. "There's a lot of reasons to make yourself look like one of Bruce Wayne's kids."

Jason hummed, stopping the conversation as the waitress appeared with the drinks he'd ordered. He flashed her a smile, "Thank you."

"No problem," she said, setting two glass of lemonade on the table. Stephanie gave the woman a smile of her own, shoulders still tight with tension. "Do you need a moment to look at the menus?"

"Yes, please," Stephanie said. "I haven't had a chance to look at it at all. I'm sorry."

"It's no problem," their waitress said. "I'll be back in a minute then."

Jason waited until the woman had walked away to look back at Stephanie. "Look, I can't make you believe that I am who I say I am. But if you want, I'll explain things to you. I'll tell you how I really died and how I came back."

"Why would you do that?" Stephanie said, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Because I promised that I would help you, but if you don't believe me than you don't trust me. There's no way that I can help you if you don't trust me." He put his hands on the table. "Some of this stuff sucks to think about and it's going to suck to talk about, but I want to help you and if talking about it is what it takes to get you to trust me enough for me to help you then that's okay."

Stephanie stared at him for a moment. She leaned back in her chair. Then she asked, "Why help me if it means you have to talk about things that hurt you so much?"

"I don't want to dump _all_  of my issues on you," Jason said, "but I have a thing about moms."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "A sexual thing?"

"No," Jason dismissed, though he couldn't help the thrum of amusement that rushed through him. He thought about Catherine. She had done her best to raise him even though he wasn't hers. He thought that Catherine had loved him, thought that she had liked being his mother. That love just hadn't been enough to make her stop taking drugs. He thought about Sheila. She'd given him up, but that hadn't made her a bad mom just someone who hadn't been ready to be a mom. He didn't know if Sheila would ever have been ready to be a mom. He just knew that he'd forced her into trying to be a mom and she'd ended up giving him to the Joker. He thought about Talia. She hadn't intended to be his mother, not in the way that Catherine had made the choice, but she'd chosen him in a way that Sheila hadn't. But Talia lived under her father's thumb and sending Jason away had been best for all of them - for Talia, Jason, and Damian. "But I have a lot of experiences with mothers that either haven't been able to make their own choice or haven't had the support to go through with that choice. If telling you this stuff means that I can help you - that I can make sure you don't have to go through what my mom went through and that your child doesn't have to go through what I went through - then I'm willing to do that."

There was a long, quiet moment.

Then Stephanie said, "Alright. Convince me you are who you say you are."

Jason approved. He would have been relieved if his words had simply caused her to change her mind about him, but he also would have thought she was a little stupid if she just took him at his word after all of that.

"Okay," Jason said. He glanced around, making sure the waitress wasn't coming. He might have been choosing to tell Stephanie his side of things, which would involve spilling some secrets of Bruce's, but somethings weren't his to share and he wasn't going to tell those things out of spite. "Well first off, we gotta talk about Batman and Robin..."

 

There were questions throughout Jason's story, but in the end Stephanie believed him and they started talking about what Stephanie needed.

 

 

 

 **week seven:** morning sickness is like a hangover without the good time

  
The next week found Stephanie and Jason sitting together at the same table in the diner, talking quietly as they waited for their food.

It wasn't the first time they'd talked, or even the first time they'd met, since their last lunch together.

They had texted a little bit. At first it had just about pregnancy musings as Stephanie tried to figure out how her diet needed to change, but they'd talked a bit about the other things going on in their lives. Jason didn't mention anything he did as the Red Hood, but he did tell her how one of his neighbors had gotten a dog that wouldn't stop barking and how he wanted to strangle some stupid teenagers that kept coming into the library he worked at and placing books in the wrong places. Stephanie complained about her homework, something he tried to help with when he recognized something she was talking about, and rambled to him when she watched a movie that weekend that had her screaming at the main characters.

They'd met up once as well, though it was only during Jason's brief break. He'd had Stephanie drop by the library so he could give her the prenatal vitamins he'd picked up for her. They were over the counter ones, but they would be useful until she made it to the doctor and could see if she needed something stronger.

"And this little shithead had the audacity to actually _lean over_  to look at my paper. " Stephanie said, telling Jason a story about one of the boys in her math class.

"I'm kind of impressed by his bravery," Jason told her.

"It wasn't brave, it was just stupid." Stephanie informed him, "I'm terrible at math and the whole class knows it."

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped as their waitress slid up to the table. "Alright guys, I've got a turkey burger with roasted vegetable soup for you," she set the plate down in front of Stephanie, "And fried cod and french fries for you."

Stephanie opened her mouth to thank the woman, only to stop as the smell of Jason's fish wafted towards her. She'd read a little bit about morning sickness, reading how quite a lot of woman found the smell of chicken and fried food unappealing, but she hadn't experienced much nausea herself yet. She'd erred on the side of caution and ordered a turkey burger instead of chicken, but she hadn't thought that Jason's choice would effect her much.

Clearly she had been wrong.

She clamped her hand over her mouth, pushing herself to her feet hurriedly.

As she sprinted towards the bathroom, she heard the waitress asking, "Oh gosh, is she okay?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. She's-"

The rest of Jason's response was lost as Stephanie pushed her way into the bathroom.

She pushed into the nearest stall, not taking the time to close or lock the door, and knelt down in front of the toilet.

She was in the middle of heaving up the breakfast she'd had that morning when she heard the door open. A moment later the stall she was in squeaked open.

"Hey," Jason said, his voice quiet and and soft. Stephanie found the low rumble of it soothing. He bent down on his knees beside her, placing a hand on her back. He rubbed a slow, soothing circle between her shoulder blades while she heaved. When she finished, taking a deep shaky breath, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I desperately want a toothbrush," Stephanie said.

Jason let out a quiet chuckle. "I figured. Are you still a nauseous or are you ready to get up?"

"I don't think I'm going to throw up again," she said, "but give me a second?"

"Sure," he agreed. He was still rubbing her back, Stephanie noticed. She was glad for it. She found the rhythm of the touch comforting. "I asked Kelly to box the food up for us since I figured you wouldn't want to stick around. Do you want me to take you back to your moms place or do you want to come over to mine? We can eat and talk a bit about the appointment I set up for you."

There wasn't really any doubt about which one Stephanie was going to chose. She loved her mother, but Jason knew both of the secrets Stephanie was trying to keep from her and being around him was easier than being with her mom.

Instead of saying that, Stephanie joked, "Are you going to let me use your toothbrush?"

"Absolutely not," Jason said. "But we'll stop by a Walmart on the way to the apartment and I'll buy you one."

* * *

Jason was standing at the island in his kitchen, Stephanie's food already laid out and his own in the fridge while he fixed himself a sandwich instead, when Stephanie said, "You've been reading this?"

"What?" Jason had been in the middle of layering sliced turkey across bread, but now he looked away from the sandwich in over to glance over his shoulder at Stephanie. The kitchen and living room were part of one large, open room so Jason could see Stephanie standing in front of the coffee table. In her hands was a book with a soft pink and blue cover. The surface of the coffee table was practically buried under the books Jason had left there, things that he reread frequently or was in the middle of reading or just couldn't fit on the bookshelf, so it took Jason a moment to realize that she was looking at one of the pregnancy books that he'd bought. "No. I finished that one already."

"Really?" She glanced over at him. "When did you buy it?"

"Last week," Jason told her. He turned back to his sandwich, reaching for more meat so he could put a second layer of turkey down. "I don't know anything about pregnancy so I figured I should do some research if I was going to help you." He added, "That one's pretty good, but it's older than I am. If you want to read one I'd recommend the one with the smiling woman holding her belly. The one your holding isn't really wrong about anything from what I can tell, it's just a little old."

There was a quiet moment before Stephanie said, "You're really serious about helping me with this."

"Yes," Jason said. He abandoned his sandwich again, this time turning fully towards her.

She was staring down at the book in her hand with a strange look on her face. After a moment she looked over at him, "Just through the pregnancy?"

"If that's what you want," Jason told her. "But if you decide to give the baby up and you need someone to talk to after that, I'll be there for you."

"And if I keep it?"

"Then I'll do the same," Jason said. "If you don't want my help afterwards that's fine. If you just want financial help that's fine. If you want me to stick around, then I'll be whatever you need me to be."

"Even if that's a father?"

"Yes," Jason said.

"And asking that of you wouldn't be a burden?"

"No," Jason said. "I know what it's like to have a father that doesn't want you and I would never do that to a kid. If I wasn't prepared to step up like that, then I wouldn't have answered your question with a yes."

Stephanie was quiet for another moment before she gave a small nod. "Alright."

Sensing that Stephanie would need time to process the full extent of what his offer to help her entailed and figure out how that would affect her decision about the baby, Jason let the conversation die.

"Come on," he said, turning away from her. "Sit down and eat before your food goes from mildly warm to cold."

 

 

 

 **week eight:** your destiny is shaped in your moments of decision

  
"You're far enough along that if you'd like, I can turn the heartbeat on for you," the doctor said. She was turned away from Stephanie, focusing on the screen while she moved the wand around Stephanie's stomach, but now she turned towards her. "Would you like that?"

"Yes, please," Stephanie said, though her heart was beating wildly in her chest.

The woman gave her a small, reassuring smile before turning back to the machine. She messed with a few buttons then the room was filled with a soft, steady beat.

Stephanie felt all of the air rush out of her lungs.

Knowing she was pregnant and actually hearing the heartbeat of the baby growing in her were two completely different things. She listened to the sound of the heartbeat and for the first time the dots connected properly for her. She thought about how that sound was inside of her, how that sound was coming from _her_ baby.

She found herself imaging a future stretched out in front of her. She didn't like what she saw. She was sixteen. How could she ever give this child a future that it deserved? She wasn't sure she could graduate high school if she had a baby, much less college. How was she supposed to give this child a good life if that was the case? How many nights would she have to work late while her child had to stay with a babysitter? How many times would she have to tell her son or daughter that they couldn't join football or ballet because she couldn't afford it? How many times would she miss a parent-teacher conference or a school concert? How many nights would her child cry-

"Whoa," Jason said. "That's kind of awesome, isn't it?"

Stephanie startled out of her daydream, turning her head to look at Jason.

She forgot that he was here.

Her daydream shifted, rearranging with the promise that Jason had made to her. She thought about leaving the baby with Jason in the morning before she went to school. She could spend the afternoons sitting on the floor in Jason's apartment with a baby in her lap while she did her homework and when she started spending more time cooing than working Jason would swoop down to grab the baby from her. She thought about having a child begging her for gymnastics and acrobatics lessons because "Jay does so many cool flips Mama!" She thought about being worried about her child getting injured, but being able to say yes because even if it would cost a little more than she would like Jason would be able to help her pay for it. She thought about spending some nights sitting on shitty, plastic bleachers with Jason and watching her child tumble around carefree and happy.

"It is," Stephanie said. She reached out, grabbing Jason's forearm. He'd been looking at the screen, but now he looked down at her. She met his eyes, asking, "If I keep this baby, you're in this with me?"

"Absolutely," he said, nodding.

Stephanie probably should have been more hesitant about believing him since they'd known each other for less than a month, but the pieces of his past that he shared were enough to stop Stephanie's doubt.

There was a lot that needed to be sorted out in the coming months, but Stephanie was trusting that they would sort those things out together.

She trusted him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> 2) Obviously done some timeline shifting here, but I hope it'll all make sense. For the record though, this chapter starts with Stephanie and Jason at sixteen and eighteen respectively but they'll turn seventeen and nineteen in the next chapter since they have August birthdays
> 
> 3) I know it might seem like Stephanie is making a lot of big decisions really quickly, but I didn't want this fic to focus on Stephanie's struggle in that aspect. I want it to be about Stephanie being pregnant and building a relationship with Jason.


	2. Month Three

**week nine:** how to deal with the sins of the father

"Hey." The word was occupied by a hand touching Stephanie's shoulder, light but noticeable. Stephanie might have startled at the touch, but she recognized the voice. Jason stepped around the table and into her view, confirming that it was exactly who she thought it was. He was wearing a pair of form fitting black jeans and a red tank top with Wonder Woman's logo in a shiny gold across his chest. Stephanie wasn't entirely certain whether his thighs in the jeans or his arms on display were more distracting. She had enough going on in her life without adding being attracted to her sort-of baby daddy, but Jason was very attractive and sometimes it was hard to ignore that. Especially when he had it all on display like that. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine," Stephanie dismissed. "I haven't been waiting very long."

"Long enough to have ordered?" he asked as he settled into the seat across from her.

They were in the same diner that that they had met in that first afternoon. It had become a favorite place of theirs. The diner was private, but it had a nice atmosphere and it was private enough for them to talk. It was the type of greasy restaurant that Jason liked, but it also had options that were healthy enough for Stephanie and the baby.

"I wasn't sure what you'd want since you change your order so often," Stephanie said, shaking her head a bit. "I did get us strawberry lemonade to drink, though."

"Fair enough."

Stephanie hummed a bit, watching as he made himself comfortable. "What kept you?"

"I worked too late last night. I ended up over sleeping by accident." Stephanie pressed her lips together and hummed. Her concern must have shown in her face because he said, a little confused, "Whats with that look? Is something wrong?"

Stephanie hesitated for a moment, thinking. "I'm not sure how to feel about your night job."

"Okay." Something serious settled in his expression. "You knew what I did from the beginning. Why is it a problem now?"

"It'd be more accurate to say that I'm not sure if its a problem." Jason hummed, but didn't say anything else so Stephanie continued, "At first I didn't know if I was keeping the baby. You were just helping me so I was okay with it. Despite all the bad stuff you do, you help a lot of people in our area and I was fine with being one of the people helped by you. But now that I've decided to keep the baby and you've decided to help me raise it, I'm just struggling a bit with the idea of what you do. My father was a supervillain."

"What I do isn't like what your father did," Jason said.

"No, which is why I'm on the fence. What you do isn't the same as what my father did, but it's not exactly different enough to erase all of my worries." Stephanie took a moment to search for what she wanted to say next before continuing, "You might not have explained your exact plan to me, but I do know that it's about showing Bruce what he did wrong and that in doing that you're definitely going to capture his attention. And I know what happens to people that he's focused on. I don't completely disagree with what you do, but I can't raise this baby by myself and if you keep going the way you're going than you won't be around forever."

"He won't get me," Jason said.

"Maybe," Stephanie said, for his benefit. She knew the truth. People like Jason didn't get away from Batman. - _no one_  got away from Batman. People like Jason got away from Arkham, but Batman was always there to take them back in. "But there's always a chance and I don't know if I can handle the fear of that chance hovering over me."

Jason was quiet for a moment, just staring at her. Then he asked, "Are you asking me to choose?"

"No," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "I just want you to think about-" She paused as a familiar feeling rushed through her, than groaned. She pushed herself to her feet. "Sorry, hold that thought okay? I've had to pee for a while now and pregnancy has made me really bad at holding it."

"Go ahead," Jason said, waving her off.

By the time Stephanie got back to the table, their waitress was at the table talking to Jason as they waited for Stephanie to return to give her order. Even once she had walked away, Jason and Stephanie steered to a different conversation instead of picking up the previous discussion. Ordering meant that their waitress would be around to check on them more and neither of them wanted to risk her overhearing what they were discussing.

Stephanie figured that letting the conversation drop was a good idea anyway.

It would give Jason time to think about what she had said and that was really all she wanted from their discussion.

* * *

"So," Jason said. He and Stephanie were walking down the street together, making their way to Jason's apartment. One of Stephanie's teachers had emailed her class to let them know that she expected them to show up to school having already read their first novel of the year and Jason had offered to let Stephanie borrow his copy since it was one that he owned. "I've been thinking about what you said this morning."

"Is this your way of saying you're going to make a me a pot of coffee when we get to the apartment?" Stephanie asked.

"I wasn't talking about that and even if I had been, I wouldn't be offering to do that," Jason said. He knew that it was safe for Stephanie to have a cup of coffee or two, but he kept up his insistence that Stephanie avoid it in favor of healthier options. Stephanie always insisted that coffee was better, but he knew that she liked quite a few of the things he'd made for her to drink. "But I will make you some red raspberry leaf tea." Stephanie hummed a little bit. A small smile settled on Jason's lips, knowing that Stephanie liked raspberry tea but didn't want to admit that she might prefer it to coffee. "I meant, I've been thinking on what you said about my night job."

"Oh," Stephanie said. "I thought you would need more time to think about it."

"You made good points," Jason said. "I thought about it. I have a counter argument now."

"Okay. Hit me with it."

"I won't stop. I can't stop. I'm not your father. What I do does help people." Jason continued, "But you raised a good point. If we're doing this, then I want to be there. I don't want to be the kind of dad that either of ours were, the type that cared more about a shitty criminal career than their kids."

"I'm glad you feel that way," Stephanie said. "Because the only reason I can do this, the only reason I'm able to keep this baby, is because I have you to help me. It's not just about you offering to help me with money, but about what having someone else to help me will do. I won't have to drop out of high school or give up going to college because you'll be around to help me and watch over them."

"I know," Jason said. "And I offered to help you, I _want_  to help you, so I'm not just going to leave you. I'm willing to change my plans so that I can be there."

"In what way?"

"I'm willing to pull back on the things that were going to get me noticed by the Bat," Jason said. "Not on everything, but on the things that are going to catch his attention and make me a priority."

He saw Stephanie startle a little bit at that, but she didn't say anything. Jason was glad for that. He didn't want to have to explain that choice, didn't want to think about it even more than he already had. It was a big decision to make given how much of the last five years of Jason's life had revolved around Bruce. Maybe Jason had come to the decision to leave that behind too quickly, but the decision had been made easier by how heavy that burden sat on Jason's shoulders. He had wanted to show Bruce just how wrong he had been in letting the Joker live, but Jason was so exhausted with that being his entire life. He didn't want to pass up the opportunity to live this new life with Stephanie and the baby, not when it was so clear how little the people in his past life cared about him.

"But, I'm not giving up on the Joker," Jason added. "I'm going to kill him."

There was a moment before Stephanie said, "I can live with that."

"Really?" Jason said, looking over at her. "Because I thought killing would be a big deal for you."

"There's a difference between the killing you do and the killing my father did. There's an even bigger difference when it comes to the Joker." Stephanie placed a hand on her stomach, light but protective. "And I'd feel a lot better raising a child in a world without the Joker than a world with him."

Jason didn't think he'd ever agreed with someone more than he agreed with Stephanie in that moment.

 

 

 

 **week ten:** the worry of a parent starts early

  
Jason had just pushed the door to his apartment open when he heard Stephanie call out, "Welcome home!"

Stephanie hadn't been around when Jason left, but he wasn't exactly surprised to find that she'd showed up while he was out so he just answered, "I'm home."

Stephanie being in his apartment wasn't exactly unusual. She had been spending more and more of her afternoons there since she'd decided to keep the baby. She'd told Jason enough about how badly her mom was coping with her father's imprisonment that Jason didn't begrudge Stephanie wanting a space away from that. Even discounting that, Jason wouldn't have minded having Stephanie around. He genuinely liked her and enjoyed having her around, something that he found extremely relieving given that he'd agreed to have a kid with her.

Jason maneuvered so he could step inside without any of the grocery bags in his hands getting caught on the doorway and kicked the door closed with his foot. As he made his way to the kitchen, he asked, "Did you eat today?"

"I had lunch earlier," Stephanie said. He heard the sound of the couch creaking. Stephanie must have been shifting to get up because he could hear her getting closer as she continued, "But on my way over here I got a whiff of some Parmesan cheez-its some kid was eating and threw it up."

"I'll make you something then," Jason said. He dumped the grocery bags onto the kitchen tile. He looked at them, trying to remember everything that he'd picked up at the store and what was still in the cabinets. "How do you feel about a chicken salad?"

"With ranch dressing?"

"Sure," Jason agreed. "Let me put the groceries away."

"I'll do that."

Jason looked away from the bags on the floor to find Stephanie was standing at the other side of the island. She had her hair pulled up into a tight ponytail, a thick purple band holding all of it together. She wasn't noticeably pregnant yet, but there was a small curve to her stomach and she'd started wearing looser clothing in order to hide it. Today she was wearing a short, flow-y black dress covered in pale pink flowers. The dress ended a few inches above her knees.

Jason found himself momentarily distracted by the smooth, pale skin of her thighs. Stephanie was a generally sweet girl with a sharp mind and a mouth that didn't hesitate to tell someone exactly what she thought of them. Jason genuinely liked her and he didn't want to do anything to make her uncomfortable, but sometimes Jason found it hard to ignore that Stephanie was also an absolute bombshell.

He swallowed thickly and forced himself to focus.

"Are you sure?" Jason asked her.

"You're making lunch. Me putting the groceries away seems like a fair trade," Stephanie said.

"You're pregnant," Jason said. "I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to be lifting things."

"It's food, not concrete," Stephanie said, voice filled with amusement. "Putting a few cans in the cabinets aren't going to hurt anything."

Jason knew that he was being a little ridiculous, but the decisions they'd made together meant that, even if it wasn't by blood, his baby was growing inside of Stephanie. He didn't want to ask Stephanie to do anything that would lead to her or the baby getting hurt.

"Okay," Jason said at last. "But let me know if it starts to feel like too much, okay?"

"It won't," Stephanie said, "but I promise I will."

* * *

"Hey." Jason's voice and the warmth of the palm he set on her knee broke through Stephanie's hazy thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, nodding a little bit. "I'm just nervous."

The two of them were sitting in Stephanie's doctor's waiting room. They were there for Stephanie's first trimester screening, something which had Stephanie's nerves fraying a bit.

"They're just drawing some blood," Jason said. "It's nothing to be nervous about."

"I know. It's not having the test done that I'm worried about. It's the results," Stephanie said. She'd been staring ahead, knee jiggling nervously before Jason's hand had stilled it, but now she turned to look at him. "If they have a genetic condition, the baby's life is going to be so much more difficult. I just want them to be happy and healthy."

"There are plenty of genetic conditions which don't necessarily make a kid unhealthy, just a little different," Jason said. "But even if they are unhealthy, that doesn't mean their going to be unhappy."

"How? All I want to do when I'm sick is whine."

"One of my happiest memories is of B staying with me when I was sick," Jason said. Sadness settled in his eyes, but he kept talking. "I was miserable. Not only did I feel like shit, but the night job I had back than was a dream come true and I hated any night that I wasn't allowed to go out. I thought B was going to go on patrol, but instead he sat on the couch with and read to me until I fell asleep." He seemed stuck in the memory for a moment, but then he gave a minute shake of his head and focused back on Stephanie. "What I'm trying to say is that even though being sick sucks, it's not always terrible and the people around you can make it better."

Stephanie thought of when she'd been sick as a kid. Her father had been absent for most of her childhood, but there was one time that Stephanie had gotten a cold while he was around. It'd been mild enough that she didn't feel terribly bad, but the occasional terrible coughing fit had led to her mother keeping her home from school. Stephanie had been filled with energy, not sick enough to sleep the day away but too sick to be running around outside. Her father had been on parole at the time, so he'd stayed home and entertained her while her mother went to work. They spent the entire day playing card and board games. When Stephanie's coughing fits came he would shift close to her, rubbing her back and speaking to her in a soothing voice until it had passed.

It was one of the few good memories Stephanie had of him.

"If the baby is sick," Stephanie said, "do you think we'd be able to make them happy the way the people around us made us happy?"

"It's a rough situation to be in," Jason said. "But I think so. From what I can tell, you do whatever you have to to make the people you care about happy. Caring that much counts for something."

 

 

 

 **week eleven:** the most common craving of pregnant women is not to be pregnant

  
"Jay, you don't have any pickles."

"Nope," Jason said. He was lying on the couch, stretched out along it with his back against the arm of the couch and a book in his hand. He had absolutely no idea what he was reading. He'd grabbed it randomly off the 'Employee Recommendations' section in the bookstore, deciding that it would be good to possibly read something out of his comfort zone. He hadn't made it far enough yet to have made a decision on whether that was a good idea or not. "You ate the last of them last time you were here."

He heard Stephanie humming a bit before she said, "You should go buy more."

"You shouldn't have eaten them all if you were going to want more."

"I can't help my cravings."

"Pretty sure even pregnant woman have self control."

There was a moment of silence, during which Jason knew that the conversation hadn't been dropped because he knew that Stephanie would never let the conversation drop, before a jar of pickle juice was dropped onto Jason's stomach. He flailed for a moment, worrying that the jar wasn't sealed, but calmed when a moment passed and his shirt was still dry.

Stephanie was standing at the back of the couch, peering down at Jason with a wide grin on her face.

"You little shit," he said, getting his hands around the pickle jar. He reached out to put the pickle jar on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Go buy more pickles," Stephanie said.

"You," Jason shot back.

"It's your apartment."

 _"You_  finished them and _you_  want more."

"I have to finish my reading," Stephanie said. While Jason was reading for pleasure, Stephanie was trying to get the last of her summer reading finished. Gotham Public was starting in two weeks and Stephanie had an entire list of things to read for her english class that she hadn't even started yet. "So you go get the pickles and I'll eat them once you get back."

"I am not going to get pickles for you," Jason said.

"It's not for me," Stephanie said. "It's for the baby."

Jason's eyes narrowed. He stared at Stephanie for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.

As he slipped his bookmark between the pages of his book, he saw her smile grow momentarily. He didn't really want to walk to the grocery store up the street, but he had a fleeting thought that making the walk was worth it if it made Stephanie smile that like.

"Do you want anything other than the pickles?" Jason asked.

Stephanie hummed in thought before saying, "Salsa."

Jason resisted the urge to cringe. He'd seen Stephanie dip pickles in salsa plenty of times since her cravings had started, but it never got any less disgusting. She had made him try it around when the craving had started and Jason didn't think his taste buds had ever been so offended. He loved both foods far too much to combine them.

"Okay," Jason said. Despite how disgusting he found the combination, Stephanie enjoyed it and Jason wasn't going to argue with a pregnant girl about her cravings. "I'll be back in a minute. Try to actually get some of your reading done while I'm out."

"Aye, aye Captain!" 

* * *

"Jason," Stephanie said, stepping out of the changing room.

Stephanie's baby bump wasn't huge, but it was getting more noticeable and her clothing was getting tighter so the two of them were out buying maternity clothes. They'd gone to a store in Bludhaven so that Stephanie didn't run the risk of bumping into anyone who knew her. She didn't want some random acquaintance to tell her mother before she could get around to it.

Getting big enough to need new clothing meant that she would need to tell her mother soon anyway.

Jason was sitting on a small bench across from the changing room Stephanie had been using. There was a pile of clothing next to him, a collection of things that Stephanie had already tried on and decided she wanted, but his attention was focused on the book he had brought along with him.

Stephanie was learning very quickly that as much as Jason loved what he did as the Red Hood, literature was by far his greatest passion. It was a little nerdy, but Stephanie also found it a little cute. She could already imagine what bedtime would be like once the baby was a little older, how Jason would probably let their child stay up far too late so that they could read another story together.

When Stephanie calling his name had torn his attention from the pages, though.

Looking up at her, he asked, "Yes?"

"I'm done," Stephanie said.

"You sure?" Jason said, glancing between the clothes draped over her arm and the pile next to him. "You've got enough?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, nodding a bit. She felt a familiar pang of thankfulness for Jason being in her life. She didn't now how she would have paid for her doctor's appointments, much less all of this clothing, if it wasn't for him. She was infinitely grateful to him for offering her everything he was, for offering her the ability to keep the child growing inside her. "We might have to get some more once I get bigger, but this should be enough for the next few months."

"If you say so," Jason said. He marked his page in his book before pushing himself up to his feet. He swooped down, hauling the pile into his arms. When he had straightened back up, he nodded towards the jeans over Stephanie's arms. "Do you want me to take those too?"

"I think I can carry two pairs of jeans," Stephanie said, feeling both amused and fond.

She'd never been around a guy who went shopping with her and didn't act like the entire thing was some sort of chore. Jason clearly didn't care much for fashion or shopping for things other than books, but he hadn't complained even once about how much time Stephanie was taking. He'd waited for her to ask for an opinion before giving one, but gave compliments and criticism in turn when she did so that Stephanie knew his honest opinion when she was conflicted. Shopping with Jason had been fun in a way that it had never been when she'd gone with boys before.

"I'm sure you can," Jason said. "But I'm already carrying everything else, so you might as well throw it on top of this stuff."

 

 

 

 **week twelve:**  mothers and daughters

  
"Hello ladies," the waitress greeted, smiling widely as she set two menu's down on the table. "Do you know what you want to drink this morning?"

Stephanie was sitting in a small diner across from her mother. It wasn't the diner that she and Jason liked, but one closer to her home. Her mother and her used to frequent it, but with her father's transition from criminal to supervillain and her mother's descent into alcoholism, it had been a while since the two of them had gone out for breakfast together.

"Can I get a mimosa please?" Crystal requested.

"Sure," the waitress agreed, nodding a bit as she flipped open a page in her notepad.

"And my daughter will take a chocolate mocha with-"

"I don't want that today," Stephanie interrupted, shaking her head as she did so. Stephanie had always ordered a chocolate mocha with extra whipped cream and caramel when they came here, but there was far too much sugar in that order and Stephanie had found that she preferred to go coffee-less when the alternative was decaf. Jason had been far too smug about that. Stephanie turned to look at the waitress instead of her mother, "Could I get a glass of apple juice please?"

"Of course," the waitress said. She jotted down the order before looking up at Stephanie and Crystal. "Alright. I'll go grab these for you."

Stephanie smiled at the woman and thanked her as she walked away.

"Apple juice?" Crystal asked after a moment, drawing Stephanie's attention back to her. "Are you cutting back on caffeine?"

"Yes." She took a deep breath, preparing herself. She had wanted to take her time with this, but she also wanted to tell her mother what had been going on while her mother was still sober. A mimosa would do next to nothing for someone who drank alcohol as much as Crystal did, but Stephanie didn't want her mother to have any alcohol in her when she told her about the pregnancy. "I have to since I'm pregnant."

Crystal was quiet for a moment, staring at Stephanie, before she let out, "What?"

"I'm pregnant and I'm keeping the baby," Stephanie said. She didn't want to overwhelm her mother with information, but she wanted to explain things properly so she continued, "The dad isn't in the picture, but there's another guy who has stepped up. He's going to help me with everything. He's....He's a really, really good guy. He doesn't have to be here, but I know that he's not going to leave."

There was a long silence.

In the end it was neither Stephanie or her mother who broke the silence, but their waitress.

"Here you go, ladies," she said, setting both glasses down. Crystal stared at the bright yellow cocktail placed in front of her. After straightening up, the waitress asked, "Would you two like a moment to look at the menu?"

Stephanie opened her mouth to say that they would, but before she could get the words out her mother said, "I think you should move out."

Stephanie's stomach plummeted. "What?"

There was a tense, quiet moment before the waitress said, "Yeah, I'll give you a minute to look at the menu alone."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone! Thank you for your comments on the first chapter and I hope you enjoyed this one as well!
> 
> 2) Something about this seems clunky?? I'm hoping it will smooth out as I write more of this series, but if you have any thoughts or opinions on it please let me know. 
> 
> 3) I'm not sure why there's so much lunch/eating in this chapter? I guess I just see food as a good thing to talk over. 
> 
> 4) Since Cluemaster was distressed when he learned about Stephanie's death, I assume that there were SOME previous good times between in the past? Hence the bit about her being sick in the fourth scene.


	3. Month Four

**week thirteen:** the last days of summer sun

  
"Hey."

Stephanie was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed under her and her textbook on her lap as she tried to get through her reading for the day. She turned her attention way from her work now, glancing up to find Jason had poked his head into the room.

"Hello," Stephanie greeted. "I didn't know you were back."

Jason had been out doing something, though Stephanie didn't know the exact details. She had asked if it was something to do with his work as the Red Hood and Jason had been honest enough to tell her that it had been. She found it a little strange since it was only five-thirty, hardly a time for crime lords to be out doing business, but she hadn't inquired any further. Jason had agreed not to kill and Stephanie was okay with what he did outside of that so she saw no reason to pry into his business.

"I just got in," Jason said. Taking Stephanie's greeting as an invitation, Jason stepped further into the room. He leaned himself against the door frame as he said, "Were you okay alone?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said. A little amused by his worry, she said, "I've been here alone before, you know."

"It was different then," Jason said.

Stephanie thought about it for a moment.

Before she had come to Jason's apartment when dealing with her mother's drinking felt like too much on top of everything else going on in her life. Jason's place, Jason himself really, had become a safe haven to her. It was safety and comfort and happiness.

When her mother had told her to find some place to stay while she was in rehab, Stephanie had never considered going anywhere other than Jason's apartment. At some point Jason's apartment had become more of a home to Stephanie than the house she shared with her mother was.

"It is, but I think it's a good kind of different," Stephanie said.

She loved her mother and she was thrilled that her mother had finally decided to get help, but staying here on a more permanent basis was good. Especially now that school was starting back up. Stephanie's father had already made her somewhat of an outcast at school and she didn't think being a teen mom was going to improve her social status any. Having Jason around after school, his companionship and his support, would make that hurt a lot less.

"I'm glad," Jason said, smiling at her. A soft, quiet moment passed between the two of them. It was Jason who broke it after a few minutes, clearing his throat before asking her, "Did you eat while I was gone?"

"No," Stephanie said.

"I'll make dinner for us then," Jason said. "Any requests other than salsa and pickles?"

Stephanie thought for a moment before asking, "Pasta maybe? We had some shitty spaghetti for lunch at school."

"Pasta redemption it is then," Jason agreed. He hummed before suggesting, "Lasagna maybe? It's not exactly the same thing as spaghetti, but...."

"Lasagna sounds pretty good," Stephanie said. She looked down at her textbook, considering, then back up at him. "Can I help make it?"

"I don't have any particular objection. But are you sure you don't need to be doing homework or something? I didn't make it to junior year, but I remember there being quite a lot of homework in high school."

"It's only the second week," Stephanie dismissed, already folding her textbook shut. As she pushed herself up, wondering vaguely how much longer she had before she'd have to ask Jason for help standing. "I don't have that much yet. And even if I did, breaks are good."

"Alright then," Jason said. He stepped outside of the room, waiting until Stephanie had crossed and stepped into the hallway with him, before asking, "I know we've been talking about dinner, but do you need a snack or something before then? Lasagna is going to take a little bit."

"Can I have salsa and pickles?"

"Absolutely not, but you can have one or the other."

"Salsa and chips or pickles?" Jason hummed an agreement. Stephanie thought for a moment before saying, "Salsa and chips sounds pretty good."

* * *

"Steph," Jason called. He had swam over to the edge of the pool, pulling himself up so he could rest his folded arms on the ledge while his legs kicked idly behind him. "Come swim with me."

"No thanks."

The two of them were at Gotham's community swimming pool. It was a warm weekend and Jason had suggested swimming so that they could enjoy what was likely to be one of Gotham's last really, nice weekend. Seasons hit Gotham hard, swinging from the worst of one season right into the worst of the next. It was only September now, but Jason had no doubt that it'd be snowing by the time October ended. He figured they might as well enjoy the few sunny weekends they had left before winter blew in full force.

"Steeeeeeeeeeeeph," Jason said, drawing her name out. "Take your clothes off and get in the pool with me."

"Nope," Stephanie said, popping the p in the word.

While Jason had been all to happy to strip off his shirt and jump in the pool, Stephanie had taken up residence on one of the chairs next to the table they had dropped their towels on. She was wearing a pair of loose jean shorts along and a large tee-shirt that Jason thought was one of his. The shirt was so large that it slipped down her shoulder, showing off a swimsuit strap under the cotton.

"Come on," Jason insisted. "It's good exercise for you and the baby."

"Jason," Stephanie said. She had been reading a book - Jason had picked up a few novels for her that he thought she'd like so that she'd have something to do as the pregnancy got further along and she started feeling less and less like running around - but now she lowered it so that Jason could see her eyes. Or at least, so that Jason could see the sunglasses she was wearing. "I am pregnant. There is nothing about being pregnant that makes me want to swim in a bikini."

Jason frowned.

Stephanie was one of the most gorgeous woman that Jason had ever met. She wasn't very big yet, but Jason didn't think his opinion would change once she did. The idea that she was sitting there, thinking that she couldn't swim with him because she wasn't attractive in a swimsuit was ludicrous.

"Steph, you have no reason to be worried about that," Jason said. "You are absolutely fucking gorgeous."

"I'm thirteen weeks-"

"I know that you're thirteen weeks pregnant," he interrupted. "But I guarantee you that if you take your clothes off and get in this pool, then the staff is going to need to clean this pool for hours afterwards." She raised an eyebrow, questioning. Jason grinned, amusement flooding him, "Because every teenage boy in this pool is going to cum just from the sight of you."

Stephanie stared at him for a moment.

Then she threw her head back and dissolved into laughter.

Jason found his grin widening and warmth flooding his chest as he watched her. He was absolutely delighted to be the reason that she was laughing, to be the reason that she was smiling.

"Get in the pool with me," Jason said, unable to keep that warmth from taking over his tone.

"Are you sure?" Stephanie said, a sly smile on her lips. "We wouldn't want to catch something from those teenage boys."

"Catch something? Steph, teenage boys with hair trigger's haven't had sex with anyone they could have caught something from."

"You have a point." She pushed herself up to her feet, hooking her thumbs into her belt loops and tugging her shorts down. "Alright. I've been convinced. I'll get in the pool with you."

 

 

 

 **week fourteen:** I'm gonna stand by you

  
Stephanie pushed her way through the crowd gathered in front of the school, trying to make her way down the stairs so she could catch her bus. Jason's apartment wasn't too far from her school, but it was easier for Stephanie to catch a city bus than to catch the school bus.

Normally she wouldn't have been too worried about missing the bus since there were plenty of stops near the school with Jason's apartment on their route, but today she wasn't heading to the apartment. She was supposed to be going out to the rehab center they'd found for her mother, visiting for her for the first time since they'd gotten her checked in. The facility didn't allow visitors until a patients third week in their program. The woman who had explained it to Stephanie said it was so they could detox the patients and start getting them settled before they started seeing people who they might not have wanted seeing them in a weak state.

She had only just made it through a group of giggling girls when she heard Jason shouting, "Stephanie!"

Turning, she found that Jason had his bike parked at the curb and was leaning against it. He was wearing a brown leather jacket with a white tee-shirt under it and a pair of form fitting jeans. There was a small novel in his hand that he'd probably been reading while waiting for her, but it was shut now and dangling loosely from his fingers.

"Jay," Stephanie said. She redirected herself so she was walking towards him. Now the fact that the crowd was mostly girls made a little more sense. She figured they had been staring at Jason, trying to figure out who he was and wondering if they should talk to him. A sharp pang of unhappiness rushed over her at the thought of one of her classmates approaching him, but she stomped it back down. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be asleep still."

Since Jason's night job paid his bills, he didn't have any reason to live on the few hours of sleep that Stephanie had when she'd been Spoiler. He usually slept the early hours of the day away, waking up shortly before Stephanie got back from school. When she moved in, he had offered to wake up earlier and pick her up from school, but Stephanie had waved him off. There was no use in him being sleep deprived right now, not when there was a baby coming in a few months that would keep him up plenty.

"The triplets downstairs are sick. Their mom came up and asked me to watch them while she ran out for some medicine," Jason explained. "Since I was up already, I figured I could give you a ride."

Stephanie stared at him for a moment.

While she didn't doubt that the triplets were sick since she'd heard their parents talking about it when she left the building for school that morning, she also knew that Jason could have very easily just gone back to sleep after their mom had woken him up. The fact that he had stayed away and come to the school probably meant that he had always been planning to do. The triplets mother had probably just woken him up half an hour or so before he'd been intending to.

The thought that Jason had deliberately planned to wake up early just so he could come to the rehab center with her, likely knowing that Stephanie would need the support despite her insistence that she could go alone, had her chest filling with warmth. It was a familiar feeling nowadays.

"Unless," Jason said, sounding suddenly unsure of himself, "you'd rather do this alone?"

"No," Stephanie said, because she really didn't want to do this alone and she was really happy Jason was here to go with her. He had helped her find the facility for her mother, helped get her mother in so quickly, and Stephanie knew it was a good place, but there was something absolutely terrifying about being faced with all of this. "I'd like it if you came with me."

* * *

Jason sat quietly at the table, listening as Stephanie and her mother spoke but not saying anything himself.

He'd come along so that he could support Stephanie if things went wrong, if something happened that meant she couldn't see her mother, but since her mother had smiled gently and pulled Stephanie into a hug when they'd walked into the room, Jason was content to fade into the background while they spoke.

Jason was staring at some art on the wall, an abstract thing made of cool colors and sharp lines that he couldn't place any kind of meaning on because it looked like such a mess to him, when he heard, "And what about you Jason?"

Startled, he turned towards the two women and let out a soft, "Huh?"

Stephanie and Crystal were both looking at him, but it was clear that Crystal had been the one to speak. She said, "I asked how your doing? With the pregnancy?"

"You want to know how I'm doing?" Jason said, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm not the one carrying the baby."

"No, you aren't," Crystal agreed, a soft smile settling over her lips. Something settled in her eyes, something knowledgeable that made it seem like she could see every part of him. Jason found it reminded him painfully of Alfred. "You helped my daughter when I didn't know she was pregnant and now you're continuing to help by allowing her to move in with you. I don't know how the two of you met or what this thing between the two of you is, but I can tell that you're serious about all of this and you're going to stay with her. So. Stephanie might be carrying the baby, but you're going to be a father which means you are having a baby too. I'd like to know how you're handling that."

"Oh. Um...." Jason struggled to figure out what to say.

He had a lot of feeling about his impending fatherhood, but it was hard to figure out what would be best to share. He knew that he definitely wasn't going to tell Crystal how sometimes he wondered if offering this help was a good thing because sometimes he got so terrified that he would mess up, terrified that he would do something to his child like what Bruce had done to him.

"He's overprotective," Stephanie said. Glancing at her, Jason realized that she must have seen his dilemma. She was trying to help him, guiding him into a soft topic. "He's probably read like six hundred books on pregnancy and he's always quoting them at me when he thinks I need to do something."

"Being well informed does not make me overprotective," Jason objected.

"There's well informed and then there's you." There was a smile stretching across Stephanie's lips, teasing and happy, as she leaned closer to her mother. "There's a bunch of sick kids in our building. The other day, Jason made me take the stairs up to the apartment because he was so worried about me catching something in the closed space of the elevator."

"That's not overprotective! It's just smart! Sick people always take the elevator and get their germs all over it!"

 

 

 

 **week fifteen:** moments between you and me

  
Stephanie was lying down on the couch, legs stretched out in front of her and her back propped up against the arm, when she heard a soft, "Huh."

She had been turned towards the television, watching some trashy teenage drama that she'd found herself sucked into despite how terrible it was, but now she looked away.

Jason was standing in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, holding a large green bowl filled with popcorn. He was looking at Stephanie, a slightly surprised look on his face.

"Hey," Stephanie said. "I thought you were reading something in your room?"

"I finished," he said, shrugging a bit. "So I figured I'd make us a snack and come watch whatever your watching."

"Well you're welcome to join, but you should know that it's trash. Like honestly, the worst thing I've ever seen."

"That's the best kind of television."

He made his way across the room. She lifted her legs up so that Jason could sit down on that side of the couch than settled them back down in his lap. He didn't seem bothered by the action, just reached over to place the popcorn bowl so that they could both reach them.

"What were you reacting to when you walked in?" Stephanie asked as she to grab a handful of popcorn.

"You," Jason said, looking over at her. "Obviously you've been getting bigger, but now you're starting to get rounder too. You look pregnant now, you know?"

"Didn't anyone tell you not to call a pregnant woman fat?"

"No. And even if they had, I didn't say that you were fat. I said that you had gotten bigger."

Stephanie hummed, turning her attention away from Jason so she could look down at her belly. She was wearing a loose navy blue exercise tank. The way she was lying down had the shirt draping over her stomach in a way that accented the shape of it. Stephanie had known she was growing bigger, but her stomach was starting to curve now. She looked, as Jason had said, more obviously pregnant than she had before.

"Yeah," Stephanie said, reaching down to place her palm against the curve. She stared for a moment, thinking about the baby growing inside her. She wondered what kind of person her child would be. She hadn't even realized the question in her brain before she asked, "Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"

Jason looked at her for a moment before saying, "I just want them to be healthy."

"Everyone says that," Stephanie said.

"Because it's true," Jason answered, a smile laced with amusement curving his mouth. "I just want our kid to be healthy."

"I'm not saying it's not true," Stephanie replied. "But everyone has a preference."

"I honestly hadn't thought about it before," Jason said. He hummed, considering, before adding, "But if I had to choose, I think I'd like a girl."

"A girl huh?" A smile settled over Stephanie's lips. "A girl sounds nice to me too."

* * *

"Stephanie, holy fucking shit," Jason said, words rushing out of his mouth.

Stephanie had been looking down at a take-out container, shoveling food from it into his mouth, but now she looked up at him. She frowned. "Are you pointing a gun at me?"

"Yes!" Jason exclaimed. He had to fight back the urge to hurry his movements away from Stephanie. Dealing with a gun quickly was likely to end with an accident and that was the last thing Jason wanted when it came to Stephanie. "Of course I had my gun out! I'm a fucking criminal and I woke up hearing someone in my place."

"I live here."

"I'm aware. That's why I have the gun!" Jason said. If he'd been the only one in the house, he probably would have just taken his chances in hand-to-hand given how good he was in a fight, but with Stephanie around he wasn't willing to risk anything. He let out a sigh, hoping it would calm his racing heart, before turning the safety back on and setting the gun on the counter. He was careful to point it away from Stephanie, directing it towards one of the walls instead. "What are you even doing out here at three in the morning? You should be asleep. You have school tomorrow."

"I was," Stephanie said. She held up the take out container in her hand. "I woke up starving."

"Seriously?"

"I wouldn't be sitting here eating noodles at three am if I hadn't."

"Gave me a heart attack for some fucking noodles," Jason muttered under his breath. He walked around the island, making his way to the drawer they kept the silverware in. He rummaged around it for a fork before moving so he was standing next to Stephanie, his hip touching hers. Stephanie recognized the silent question, tilting the carton so that Jason could stab his fork. "I thought the cravings had stopped."

"They have," Stephanie responded. "But cravings or not, I'm eating for two."

"Fair enough," Jason said. He shoveled the noodles in his mouth. He paused for a moment. Speaking around the food in his mouth, he asked, "Wait. Are these _my_ noodles from last night?"

"Yup," Stephanie said. "They sounded better than the ones I got."

 

 

 

 **week sixteen:** heart and home

  
"I'm home," Stephanie called out as she pushed the apartment door open.

"Welcome back," Jason said, speaking from somewhere further in the apartment. Stephanie was slipping out of her shoes when Jason spoke again, "How did your appointment go?"

"Everything is okay!" Stephanie said. "And I brought a new photo of her!"

"You can't call the baby her just because we want it to be a her." With her shoes kicked off, Stephanie started making her way through the apartment. She could smell something cooking, so she made her way towards the kitchen. "It could be a boy!"

"That would be okay and I would love him just as much as I would love her, but we agreed that we would prefer a girl so I am going to refer to her as a her. I'm hoping wishful thinking and positive reinforcement will help."

"Pretty sure that at this point, that baby's biological gender has already been determined," Jason answered.

"Yeah, but we don't know what it is yet and your negative vibes were not invited to this party!" Stepping into the kitchen, Stephanie asked, "What are you making and can I have some?" She made her way across the kitchen, plastering herself against Jason's back and raising up onto her tiptoes so she could peer down into the pot he was stirring.

"It's soup."

"I can see that," Stephanie said. "What kind of soup?"

"Leek and potato," Jason said. "I'm adding some bacon too."

"Sounds delicious." She took a deep breath before adding, " _Smells_  delicious."

"A ringing endorsement." Feeling Jason moving beneath her, Stephanie shifted so that Jason's face wasn't right in hers when he looked over his shoulder. "Go put the new picture on the fridge with the others."

"You didn't answer my other question," Stephanie pointed out. "Are you sharing the soup?"

"I am sharing the soup," Jason said. "Now go put the photo on the fridge before you drop them in the soup."

"The photo is in my pocket," Stephanie said, sticking her tongue out even though Jason had already turned back to the stove. "There's no way for me to drop it in the soup."

"I have a sneaking suspicion that you could figure it out."

"Asshole," Stephanie said, though it came out far more affectionate than she meant. She pushed away from him, "But I will now put the photos of our daughter on the fridge."

"Still don't know that it's a daughter."

"We could have a biological girl and then find out in sixteen years that we have a son," she said. "So are you going to keep this up for sixteen years?"

"I will keep it up until we can find out the gender," Jason said. "And if in sixteen years our daughter decides they would rather be our son, _then_  I will change."

"Good plan. And on that note, we can probably find out the gender at my next appointment."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> 2) My pregnancy research didn't show me anything in month four that I was super excited for, so this chapter was mostly just Stephanie and Jason being cute and domestic.


	4. Month Five

**week seventeen:** on a couch not meant for three.

  
Stephanie was lying on the couch watching a late night episode of some crime show she hadn't seen before, when she heard the sound of the window being lifted open.

Stephanie normally would have been frightened, or at the very least put on guard, by the sound. Under normal circumstances, she was more than capable of defending her self, but she was pregnant now. She had stopped fighting before she was noticeably pregnant because it had presented a danger to the baby and now that she was showing that danger had only increased.

Given where she was living and who she lived with, however, someone slipping into the house in the middle of the night wasn't something worrying.

She pushed herself up and twisted so that she was looking at the window, watching as Jason climbed in from the fire escape.

He never came into the apartment in the Red Hood costume. Stephanie didn't know where he changed, but she knew that he always did it before he came home. She'd asked him about it once and Jason had told her it was because he didn't want tracking the Red Hood to be as simple as following him from the streets directly to his home. She thought that was a bit of an over simplification of the issue given that she knew how well Jason was at sneaking around and shaking a trail, but she had accepted the answer.

Instead of the costume, Jason was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a white tee-shirt with a black leather jacket over it. Jason dressed that way normally, so he wore it comfortably and with confidence. No one would bother asking him why he was out so late, because there was nothing about a guy like Jason walking down the street in that outfit that seemed strange. If someone who didn't know them saw Jason coming in through the fire escape instead of the door, they were more likely to think he was sneaking into a girl's room than doing anything illegal.

"Hey," Stephanie called out. "How was it tonight?"

Jason must have gotten more used to her being around because he startled at her words, but didn't immediately pull a gun on her the way he had weeks ago.

Instead he turned to her, glanced between her and the television for a moment. "Hello. Why are you still awake? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

"The baby?"

Stephanie hummed, noncommittally. It was the baby keeping her up, but in a _'I have anxiety about being a mother'_ way rather than because the baby was doing anything in particular.

She and Jason talked a lot about a lot of things, but this was one thing that Stephanie didn't feel like talking with him about. 

At least not in this moment.

Jason watched her for a moment, as if trying to decide whether to push her on her non-answer. Eventually he said, "I'm going to go hop in the shower. I'll come watch this with you once I'm done, yeah?"

"You don't have to," Stephanie said. "You must be tired."

"I am," Jason said. He turned away from her, already stripping out of his jacket as he started to make his way down the hallway and towards the bathroom. "But I'm a cuddler and it's easier to sleep with someone else. Might as well come curl up on the couch with you."

Stephanie watched him walk away with a small smile on her face.

She knew Jason liked cuddling, the two of them had curled up together before, but she also knew he was probably so tired that he could flop down anywhere and fall asleep. Which meant he was insisting on sleeping with her just so he could comfort her, even despite the fact that she wasn't telling him what he was comforting her about.

It was sweet, she thought.

 _He_ was sweet.

She didn't know how she had gotten lucky enough to be having a child with someone like him.

* * *

Jason stretched as he stood, listening to the satisfying pop of his back as he twisted.

Extracting himself from Stephanie without waking her up had been a challenge, enough so that Jason would probably refer to it as a lesson in stealth in his more dramatic moments.

Having successfully managed it, however, Jason reached down and snatched Stephanie's phone from the coffee table.

He didn't know when Stephanie had gone to sleep given that he had passed out pretty much as soon as they'd gotten settled, Jason playing big spoon to Stephanie's little with his hand resting on her belly, but he knew that he hadn't even gotten back from patrol until after three. He'd taken a quicker shower, but he was still willing to bet that it had been at least three-thirty before he'd collapsed onto the couch with her.

Given that, he didn't see any harm in turning her alarm off instead of letting it ring. Jason knew she was trying to do her best in school right now since she would miss the last month or two after the baby was born. She didn't want to miss days and end up behind. But he didn't think that going to school after only three hours of sleep would be very healthy for the baby or very productive for her.

Once he had managed to figure out where her alarm was and how to turn it off, Jason set the phone back down on the coffee table.

Afterwards, he hesitated in planning his next move.

Jason had no desire to stay awake now that he'd made sure that Stephanie wouldn't be getting woken up, but he found that he wasn't quite sure what his next step was supposed to be. He wasn't sure if he should curl up on the couch with Stephanie again. He wasn't sure if the moment had passed, if by squeezing his way behind her again he would be crossing some kind of boundary. Maybe it shouldn't have mattered since she was still asleep and had no idea that he was awake, but Jason didn't think that gave him the right to invade her space like that.

He had all but decided to trudge to his bedroom and collapse there when he heard Stephanie say, voice slurred and sleep heavy, "Jay? Why're you hovering?"

"I was turning your alarm off," Jason said, answering honestly. He crouched down so he was at her level instead of towering over her. "I thought you could use a day off."

"Mmkay, good idea," Stephanie said, her easy agreement a testament to just how exhausted she was. "You coming back?"

"If you want me to," Jason said. "But I can go to my room if you'd rather I do that."

"No," Stephanie said, shaking her head just a bit. She had shifted when Jason climbed off the couch, filling the space he left behind in the absence of his body to lean against. Now, she wiggled to open that space up for him again. "Stay."

"Okay," Jason agreed. "As long as you want me here."

 

 

 

 **week eighteen:** these simple quiet days

  
Stephanie sat on the floor in the apartment's living room. She had her textbooks spread out on the coffee table, hoping that putting all of the work out there and watching it slowly dwindle would help motivate her to finish it quickly, and her legs were stretched out beneath.

Jason had tried to get her to work at the kitchen island, saying something about how it wasn't good for her to be on the floor like that, but Stephanie preferred the atmosphere in the living room to the atmosphere in the kitchen when it came to studying. The kitchen wasn't stuffy or too clean, but it was a space where she and Jason did a lot of talking and laughing and singing as he cooked or they ate. The living room was more comfortable. They had more of their quiet moments together in the living room, watching movies or reading together instead of actively socializing. So it was easier for Stephanie to study in the living room without feeling distracted by the feeling that she was supposed to be talking or doing something other than homework.

And working in the living room stopped her from using food as an excuse for breaks.

She was in the middle of trying to solve a chemistry problem when she felt something that had her stopping.

"Oh," she said, dropping her pen in favor of reaching down to press her hand to her stomach.

"Steph, everything okay?"

Jason had been curled up on the love seat with a book, reading quietly so that he wouldn't interrupt her studying, but now he was shifting towards her, obviously ready to reach out and help if necessary.

"Yeah," Stephanie said. "I just felt her move for the first time."

"Really?" Jason said. His eyes were wide, a shine of wonder in them. He shifted closer, edging towards falling out of his chair. "Can I touch?"

Stephanie noted that Jason didn't correct her usage of a feminine pronoun. In any other situation, he would remind her that there was no evidence that they were having a girl other than their wish for one and that they shouldn't throw their expectations completely in one direction. But Jason's excitement over the baby's movement had kept him from noticing what she had said, or at least from seeing it as a priority.

She made a mental note to use that to her advantage next time Jason was bothering her with his insistence that they had to stay gender neutral. Getting Jason so excited about their daughter that he forgot his insistence that it might _not_  be a daughter was much more fun than arguing with him about it.

"Sure, but you probably won't be able to feel it," Stephanie said. She pushed the coffee table forward, making room for Jason to slide from the chair to the floor next to her. He dropped down happily, settling down next to her and folding his legs under him. "I don't think I'm far enough along yet for anyone other than me to feel."

He hummed a bit. "Alright, alright. Just tell me where you felt it."

"I'm serious, Jay," Stephanie said, even as she grabbed onto his hand so she could move to the area where she'd felt the baby shifting. "Don't get your hopes up."

"I promise not to." When Stephanie stared at him with a look that made it clear just how little she believed him, Jason huffed. "Steph, honestly, I swear I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm just happy that the baby is healthy and growing."

Stephanie stared at him for a moment before setting his palm against her stomach. As she let go of his wrist, she said, "I'm happy she's okay, too."

* * *

"Jay, you like old novels and stuff don't you?"

Jason was in the middle of putting away the groceries he'd just gotten back from buying. Pausing, he glanced behind him to find Stephanie slipping into the room. She'd been in her room when he'd gotten back from shopping. Jason had shouted out a greeting so she would know he was home but hadn't bothered her otherwise.

"I do," Jason agreed, turning away from her and focusing back on the bags scattered across the island.

"Do you like Shakespeare?" He heard one of the stools scrap against the kitchen floor as she pulled it out.

Jason hummed a bit as he pulled the peaches and oranges from the bags. Both were fruits that Stephanie was happy to eat, making them a great healthy snack for Jason to have in stock. " _I have good reason to be content, for thank God I can read and perhaps understand Shakespeare to his depths._ ”

There was a moment before Stephanie said, "That's a yes?"

"That's a yes," Jason agreed. He spun, pulling the refrigerator door open and bending to grab the handle of the drawer they usually stored the fruit in. "Why are you asking?"

"I have to write a paper on Much Ado About Nothing. I was hoping you'd be able to help me."

"Sure. I don't mind helping," Jason agreed. He dropped both of the fruit bags into their place. "Have you read it yet?"

"Nope."

"I have a copy," Jason said. "I'll read it to you after I finish here."

Stephanie groaned. "No, don't do that."

"You have to read it. I'm not writing your paper for you."

"I know! And usually I like when you read to me because you make the really boring shit a thousand times more interesting, but when you started reading out loud in the living room the other day, she started doing somersaults. It's really hard to concentrate on this stuff when you've got a baby somersaulting in your uterus. You know?"

"I can't say that I understand that, no." He paused, realizing something she'd said, then looked up at her. "She moves when I talk?"

"When you read," Stephanie corrected. She was sitting at the island, her elbow on the counter and her chin in her hand as she watched him. "You use a different voice. I don't know if she loves it or hates it, but she tumbles a lot when you use it." She smiled a little bit adding, "Either way, it looks like she recognizes her daddy's voice."

Jason returned the smile, feeling a quick starburst of affection.

"My copy of the play is on the bookshelf. Second shelf, about three quarters across," Jason said, looking back down at the bags. There were still some vegetables that he had to put away. "Go grab it and get started. I'll come out once I finish here. And if it's so boring that you can't get through it, I'll read it to you despite the somersaulting."

"Okay," Stephanie agreed. There was a second before she asked, "Is it _likely_  to be that boring?"

"It's a comedy and Shakespeare likes his dick jokes," Jason said. "So, no. I don't think it'll be that boring for you."

 

 

 

 **week nineteen:** moments between you and me, part two

  
"Stephanie, why are you laying on the floor?"

"I'm taking a nap," Stephanie answered.

Her eyes had been closed, but now she peeked them open. She's expected to find Jason standing next to her; instead he was standing behind her head and leaning over so he looked upside down to her. Stephanie found herself momentarily stunned, caught in just how blue in eyes looked when they were this close to each other.

"On the floor? Instead of in your bed or on the couch?"

"My back is killing me," Stephanie said. "When I lay on the floor, I can straighten my back. It feels a little better which makes it easier to sleep. So yes, I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Really? You're lying on the floor because your back hurts?" Jason said. He smiled a little bit, amusement in the corners of his lips. "And you think I'm dramatic?"

"You are dramatic."

"You're the one who felt a little back pain and immediately decided to collapse to the floor."

"That doesn't make me dramatic, it just makes me smart and resourceful," Stephanie countered. She reached out, patting her hand against Jason's cheek. He must not have shaved in a few days, because Stephanie felt the rough scratching of stubble under her palm. "You can take your judgement somewhere else, because it's your daughter causing my pain."

"Might not be a girl," Jason reminded her, seeming completely unaffected by her light slapping. "It could be _our_ son causing your pain."

"I'm in pain. Don't argue with me when I'm in pain."

"Stop calling our baby a girl," Jason said. "I don't want you to be upset if they turn out to be a boy."

"I won't be." She said, "But! I want a daughter and you want a daughter, so until proven otherwise this baby is a girl because that is what we are both want and are wishing for."

"Just don't get your hopes up, okay?"

"My only hope is that the baby is healthy," Stephanie said. "A baby boy wouldn't be bad, you know? He's just wouldn't what we were wanting. But getting something other than what you wanted doesn't mean that you don't love what you got."

Jason squinted at her, searching for something in her expression. Then he said, "You're not wrong, but it's strange to hear something so intelligent from you."

"Fuck off," Stephanie said, giving Jason's cheek another tap.

He just grinned at her.

There was a quiet moment before Jason said, "Okay, seriously though, you should get off the floor. I haven't vacuumed it in six months and a pregnant woman should definitely not be laying in this many germs." He shifted so his hands were dangling down in front of her, "Come on. Grab my hands and I'll help you get to your feet."

"Good plan," Stephanie said. She grabbed onto Jason's hands, clasping tightly. "Because I might not be that big yet, but I'm already big enough that there was no way I was getting up without your help."

* * *

"What do you want for dinner?" Jason asked, making his way through the kitchen and towards the refrigerator.

He and Stephanie had been out on a walk, it was one of the few types of exercise that Stephanie could tolerate and Jason felt better about her wandering around the city when he was with her. He knew it was a little silly since they didn't exactly live in the worst part of Gotham and there wasn't a whole lot of danger to her, but Gotham was Gotham. Things were unpredictable and one never knew what would happen, so Jason felt better being there with Stephanie.

They'd ended up being out longer than they had anticipated since they had been having fun, enjoying each other's company as they made their way around Gotham's streets.

Being out later than they had intended to be, though, meant that it was already late compared to when Jason usually started making dinner for them.

"Chicken nuggets and french fries," Stephanie said.

"No, try again," Jason said, not even pausing to give the suggestion consideration. He pulled the refrigerator door open and scanned the contents, trying to figure out a meal he could make with what they had. "And include a vegetable this time."

"Potatoes are vegetables and french fries are potatoes."

"Yes, but french fries are not," he said. Reaching to pull open the large drawer he kept the fresh vegetables in, he asked, "How do you feel about vegetable stir-fry?"

"Are you going to add meat? Because I am a meat type of girl and our daughter needs protein."

"Yes, I will add meat," Jason agreed. "Pork sound okay?"

"Yes, let's eat the pigs."

"That's slightly ominous."

"But not inaccurate."

"But not inaccurate," Jason said, nodding a bit. He grabbed a collection of vegetables - zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and a green bell pepper - before turning around. He thought that Stephanie would have sat down, but instead she was standing at the island and leaning against it. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You wanna lend a hand?"

"Sure," she agreed.

"Wash these and cut them afterwards," he said, gesturing to the vegetable bounty he'd dumped on the counter. "If you do that, then I can get started on the pork."

"Alright, I can do the veggies."

 

 

 

 **week twenty:**  what we're going to be

  
"We should fuck."

Jason was sitting on the couch in the living room with the intel that he had gathered on the target he was planning to go after spread out across the coffee table. He'd purposefully waited until Stephanie had gone to bed to pull it out.

It was probably a combination of his focus on his work and his expectation that Stephanie was asleep, her having wished him a goodnight and luck on his patrol before disappearing into her room almost two hours ago, that stopped Jason from properly registering her words.

"What?" he said, twisting towards her.

Stephanie was standing in the hallway entry, leaning against the open archway. She was wearing a pair of fuzzy white pajama shorts with red hearts covering them and a loose white tank top. The fabric was so thin that Jason could see the bright red bra she had under it. She had her arms crossed under her boobs, pushing them up in a way that seemed unintentional even given her words. For a moment, Jason found himself struck by the fact that her bra matched her shorts.

"We should fuck," Stephanie said. She added, "And date, obviously, but we've been pretty much been doing that already so I'm not really worried about that. But my hormones are going fucking crazy and I'm so horny I can't sleep, so fucking is really my top priority in our relationship right now."

"Uh." Jason wanted to slap himself the second the sound left his lips. He was nineteen years old and he was getting absolutely tongue tied because some girl was asking him to fuck her, like he was a sixteen year old virgin or some shit. He was a little pissed at himself for it, but honestly his hesitance had less to do with the request and more to with the consequences of it. "I...don't think that's a good idea."

"Sure it is."

"It's really not," Jason said. "Because we're having a baby and if things-"

"Most people having a baby together are in relationships," Stephanie said. Jason opened his mouth to say something about how that didn't mean anything, but Stephanie continued before he could get it out. "And I'm not saying this because I think we have to be in a relationship to have this baby together or anything. It wasn't even a thought in my mind when we first started doing this. But it's become fairly obvious that we'd both be happy to spend the rest of our lives in this apartment together because we're kind of stupidly into each other."

Jason couldn't find the words to argue with her, because it wasn't strictly speaking untrue.

Stephanie was gorgeous and hilarious and caring. Jason had had a crush on her for ages and it had definitely grown into something more over the past few weeks. He just hadn't said anything because the baby and Stephanie meant more to him than any kind of relationship would.

"So, given that and how desperate I am to get fucked right now," Stephanie said. "I think we should just skip over all of the dancing around each other and worry about the consequences of our relationship and just start it." Then, she added, "By fucking, I mean. We should start it by fucking, but it's definitely an actual relationship as well."

"Um." Jason licked his lips then nodded a bit. "Okay. That sounds like a good idea."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hi guys! Thank you to everyone for the support you've been showing this fic thus far. JaySteph isn't a huge ship so i was super nervous about the reaction this fic would get, but everyone has been super nice and lovely. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as you enjoyed the last ones :)
> 
> 2) Jason quotes Keats in this chapter after Stephanie asks him about Shakespeare. 
> 
> 3) I hope Jason and Steph in the final section doesn't feel too out of place or too sudden, but I think all of the chapters and -especially this chapter given it's domesticity - build up this relationship for them and show off how good they are with each other. And I don't see either of them being the kind of people to just like....dance around that once that's out there. Also, I just like the idea of Stephanie steamrolling Jason out of rambling like an idiot


	5. Month Six

**week twenty-one:** the way we look, the way we touch

  
"What are you making?"

Jason had been looking down at the stove, focused on watching the bacon in the pan and trying to make sure none of the grease caught his arms.

Now he looked up to find Stephanie stepping into the kitchen. She was wearing one of his tee-shirts, a black one with cat-shaped Russian nesting dolls forming a line across the chest, but it was so large on her that it was slipping off one shoulder, showing off a bright red bra strap. While the shirt was large on her, it fell over her bell in a way that showed off the curve of her stomach. It covered her well enough, but it also showed off most of her legs.

She had one hand raised, rubbing sleep from her eyes, as she shuffled towards him. Despite having just clearly just woken up, her hair was pulled up in a ponytail rather than falling messily around her face as it usually did.

Jason could see the finger-shaped bruises he'd left on her inner legs and the red marks on her neck from where his teeth had scrapped against her skin.

He hadn't put a shirt on before coming to make breakfast for them, part of why he was so worried about the bacon grease. He wondered if Stephanie could see the marks on his back from where her nails had scrapped against him, drawing lines all the way from his shoulder blades down to his ass.

"Hey," Jason greeted. "Good morning."

"Morning." Stephanie yawned. Jason looked back down at the pan. She repeated, "What are you making?"

"Bacon and eggs," Jason said. Hearing one of the stools scrap against the kitchen tile, Jason glanced back instinctively. Stephanie was climbing up onto the stool, leaning forward to place folded arms on the counter and rest her cheek against her forearms. Her eyes were fluttering shut as she nuzzled against her arm, trying to get comfortable. Thinking of how fiercely gorgeous she had looked last night when they had been in bed together and how softly beautiful she looked now that she was padding around the kitchen, he offered, "I'll make you waffles too, though, if you want."

"Bacon and eggs sound fine," Stephanie said. "I'm too tired to properly enjoy waffles right now."

Jason frowned a little bit. He wondered if he should have put his foot down last night, wondered if he'd gotten too swept up in her body and forgotten to take care of her health. She'd been sleeping more nowadays, often tired out by a combination of the extra weight effecting her movements and the constant energy sapping that came with growing a child.

"It's not very nice to frown the morning after." Jason had been staring absently as he pondered, but now he focused back on Stephanie. She had peeked one of her eyes open to watch him. "Most girls don't take that very well."

"I'm not frowning about last night," Jason said. Immediately, he corrected, "Well, I was, but not because it was bad. I was just wondering if I should have let you sleep."

"If you had sent me to sleep instead of coming to bed with me last night, it probably would have stalled our relationship for months," Stephanie said. Jason had known that Stephanie's request that he sleep with her meant more than just a night in bed together, not just because Stephanie had made that clear in her request but because, once Stephanie brought it up, Jason realized that everything between them was bound to bring them together at some point. Still, it was nice to hear Stephanie say something like 'our relationship.' "Besides, I'm not tired because I didn't sleep enough. I'm tired because good sex is exhausting and it makes me tired the morning after."

Jason couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. "Just good, huh?"

"Mmm," Stephanie hummed, a smile settling on her lips as well. She closed her eyes, burrowing against her arms again. "We'll have to test it out a few more times before I'm willing to upgrade it to great status. Gotta double check that my assessment was correct."

"Alright," Jason agreed.

"Not right now though," Stephanie said. "Later, after we eat. Otherwise we can't eat the bacon and I would never chose a boyfriend over bacon."

"Obviously. Bacon trumps sex every time."

* * *

"Okay," the Doctor said, focused on the screen in front of her as she moved the wand against Stephanie's skin. Stephanie had her head turned towards the screen as well, watching her baby move. Jason sat in a chair by her side, holding Stephanie's hand between both of his. They had never had an appointment where their doctor had been worried about the baby, but Stephanie knew that every appointment had Jason's stomach churning with worry. "Everything is looking good. The heart sounds healthy. Baby is a little smaller than most, but I'm not worried about that yet. They're not in danger of being underweight when they're born, just a little smaller than most."

Stephanie felt Jason squeeze her hand a little tighter and knew that even if the Doctor wasn't worried, he was. She had no doubt that Jason would be looking up what vitamins and foods to feed her in order to help the baby grow.

The Doctor looked at the screen for another moment before turning to them. "Would you like to know the baby's sex?"

"Yes," Stephanie said without bothering to look at Jason for his opinion.

"Alrighty." Looking back at the monitor, she asked, "What are you two hoping for? A boy or a girl?"

"A girl," Stephanie told her. "We're both hoping for a girl."

"That right, dad?"

"I just want the baby to be okay," Jason said.

"Everyone says that, but in my experience everyone as a preference," the Doctor said, a small smile on her face as she moved the wand. She hummed a bit before saying, "I got a pretty good idea of what your having during the check up, but let me just make sure now."

"Okay." Stephanie turned her head away from the monitor in favor of glancing at Jason. He was staring at the screen still, biting his bottom lip between his teeth as he stared. She squeezed his hand, drawing his attention down to her. When he was looking at her, she said, "I promise I haven't gotten my hopes up. If we're having a boy, I'm not going to be upset."

Jason gave her a small smile, admitting, "I might've gotten my hopes up a little bit. I like the idea of having a little girl that looks like you running around the apartment."

"Well, I'm happy to report that hoping for a girl was the right decision," the Doctor said.

Stephanie shifted to see her again. "We're having a girl?"

"Congratulations," the Doctor agreed, smiling at them. "You're having a girl."

Stephanie grinned, wide and bright. She squeezed Jason's hand, looking over at him again as she said, "This is just proof that I'm always right."

The Doctor let out a soft laugh.

"Sure," Jason said, a large smile settling on his face. "We can go with that for now."

He leaned down, pressing his lips against hers in a quick soft kiss.

Their relationship hadn't changed a lot since they had slept together, because they had all but been together before sleeping together. It had been that closeness between them that had given Stephanie the confidence to push their relationship forward, to tell Jason to take her bed and know that in the morning they would be together rather than awkwardly apart.

But this, this casual affection between them, _had_  changed. Jason touched her constantly, a warm palm against the back of her hand or fingers catching on her own when they walked side-by-side or soft kisses dusted across her forehead and cheeks and shoulders and lips.

Stephanie had kissed plenty of boys before, Dean and Robin and several before either of them had entered her life, but no one had ever kissed her the way Jason did. Not with the softness and affection, the _reverence_ , that Jason kissed her with.

She supposed that was okay, though, since Jason was the a forever type of partner and the others had simply been stepping stones leading Stephanie to him.

It was a serious thing to think about, a relationship that would last that long and be such a large part of her life, but Stephanie was content with it. She was happy to spend the rest of her life with Jason.

 

 

  
**week twenty-two:** a name is a wish made by a parent

  
Stephanie was lying down on the couch, textbooks open but abandoned on the coffee table, with her arm over her eyes.

Jason had spent most of the morning in his bedroom, probably working on something that involved his activities as the Red Hood since he'd chosen to do them away from Stephanie, but now Stephanie could hear him coming towards her, heavy footsteps moving down the hallway.

"Your daughter is doing somersaults again," Stephanie called out. "And she's making it impossible for me to focus on calculus."

"You complain about it now, but when we're chasing her around in a few years your going to miss having her somersaulting somewhere that won't allow her to run away from you," Jason said. Stephanie hummed. Right now, running after an energetic toddler sounded much better than constantly being kicked by an energetic baby in her uterus. There was a quiet moment before Jason spoke again, sounding much closer than he had been before, "Tummy touches okay?"

"Sure," Stephanie said. She moved her arm away from her face and opened her eyes so she could see Jason. He was crouched down next to the couch, hand outstretched towards her but lifted above her stomach so he wasn't touching her. If there was one person that Stephanie didn't mind touching her stomach without asking, it was Jason. Stephanie had told him that before, but Jason had just shook his head and told her that giving him blanket permission didn't mean he wouldn't ask. The bigger she got, the more likely it was that people would touch her without permission and Jason didn't want to be one of them. "She's already doing her thing, so it won't matter if you set her off."

Stephanie wasn't sure if their daughter knew that Jason was her daddy, but she did know that she liked Jason's voice. She moved a lot without any prompting, but when Jason dropped his voice to the soft, low voice that he used when reading aloud she always moved ten times more. Stephanie was just glad that Jason's normal voice didn't set her off as much as his reading voice did, otherwise she wouldn't have ever gotten any peace.

Jason smiled at her, a quiet thank you.

He settled his palm against the curve of her stomach. He dropped his voice down low, leaning in towards her stomach as he said, "Hey baby girl, you gotta settle down and give Mama a break so she can finish her homework. You can terrorize her afterwards."

Stephanie opened her mouth to object, because she was definitely over the terrorizing for today, but before she got the words out there was a sharp movement.

"She's kicking near your hand," Stephanie said instead. She'd been telling Jason where their daughter was kicking since the first time it had happened since Jason hadn't been able to feel it.

"I know." Stephanie had been looking at Jason's hand, but hearing the soft awe in his voice she looked up at his face. He was staring down at the area his hand was resting against her. His eyes were wide with surprise, but she could see a shine entering them. His lips were turning up in a smile, affection and happiness already evident in the lines of his mouth. "I felt it."

Stephanie had been irritated before, but now she felt that fading away as happiness took over.

"You did?" Jason nodded, still staring at her stomach with that incredibly bright look on his face. She placed her hand on her stomach, at the bit right where it began to curve. She wasn't trying to feel the baby's kick herself, but touching her stomach when talking to her daughter was a habit. "Alright, baby girl, I know I was annoyed with you before, but why don't you kick for your daddy again?"

* * *

"Pamela?"

"No," Jason said. He made a face at the food in the pan for a moment before deciding that even if it seemed a little early, the skewers needed turned unless he wanted the salmon to end up burned. "Poison Ivy's name is Pamela. She might not be my least favorite person in Gotham, but I'm not naming a child after her either."

"Fair point," Stephanie agreed. She listed off, "Pamella? Pamina? Pandora?" Before Jason could say anything, Stephanie added, "No, no, and definitely not. There's no way we're naming a child after a box that held all of the evils in the world."

"Technically, we would be naming our daughter after the woman who was given the box, not the box itself," Jason said. He grabbed the end of the skewer that looked the most in danger of being overcooked and flipped it around. "But I agree. I'd rather not give her a name with a legacy like that in a town like this."

"No child raised by us is going to turn into a villain."

Part of Jason wanted to disagree, but he stuffed it down.

Maybe he wasn't a good man, maybe he would never be, but he refused to be the kind of father that put their child on that path. He would leave before he did something like that, would rather watch his daughter's life from afar than put her through even half of the things that he and Stephanie had been through.

"Next?" Jason said.

"Pansy?"

"No way," Jason rejected. "Slytherins aren't evil, but _that one_ wasn't good."

"Agreed." There was a quiet hum before Stephanie continued, "Pansy? Panteha? Paphos? Paquita? Parca? Paris?"

"Why does this baby book have so many mythology names?"

"This one said it had a lot of literary names," Stephanie said. "I thought you might like a name that reminded you of the characters you love."

Jason felt affection blossom in his chest, happy that Stephanie had thought of him and what he might want to name their daughter when picking up the name books.

"I like that idea," Jason admitted. "As long as your okay with it too."

"I will be as long as we pick something good. None of these feel right."

"No," Jason said. As he moved to flip another one of the salmon and vegetable kabobs he was making, he tacked on, "Also Paris was a dick and the cause of everyone's problems in the Iliad. I'm definitely not naming a child after him."

"Noted." Stephanie made a quiet sound before saying, "I'm not really feeling a P name. Give me a number between one and twenty-six."

Trying to resist the urge to run through the alphabet in his head and pick a number purposefully, because while he didn't know what he wanted to name their daughter he knew that he would default towards common letters if he gave it too much thought, he spat out, "Twelve?"

He heard Stephanie going through the alphabet quietly, murmuring under her breath, before saying louder, "L it is then."

"Don't start with L-A though," Jason said. " I don't think really think reading the entire thing is going to help us find a name, so just open it to a random page in the L section and start reading."

"Aye, aye Captain." Jason was so familiar with the sound of turning pages that it was easy to pick it out, even when there was so much other background noise in the kitchen. After a moment, Stephanie started reading, "Lex, Lexann, Lexi, Lexus, Leya...."

 

 

 

 **week twenty-three:** mothers and fathers

  
"Oh my," Crystal said. They had been hugging but now Crystal readjusted her grip on Stephanie so that she could push her away, gently. She raked her eyes down Stephanie's body, taking the sight in. "You've gotten so big since the last time you visited me!"

"I know," Stephanie said. "I swear it came on all at once. I went to bed with a little extra weight and woke up looking like I'd stuffed a balloon under my shirt."

"Pregnancy does that sometimes," Crystal said.

She pulled her in again. Stephanie was all too happy to close her eyes and sink into her mother's embrace, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing tightly.

Jason was great and he provided Stephanie with incredible amounts of love and support, but there wasn't any man in the universe that could love and support her more than her mother did. Stephanie had made her decision before finding out how her mother was going to react to her pregnancy, strengthen by Jason's support, but she didn't know if she'd have been strong enough to go through with that decision if she didn't have her mother by her side as well. She was glad she didn't have to find out if she was right about that.

Stephanie heard her mother sigh, her breath ghosting against Stephanie's ear. "I missed you, sweetheart."

"I missed you too, Mama," Stephanie said.

They held each other for another moment before finally stepping apart.

Stephanie moved to take a seat at one of the plush chairs across from the one her mom had been sitting in before Stephanie had walked in. There was a small coffee table between them with two glasses of water and a book that her mother had been reading set down n it.

"Jason didn't come with you today?" Crystal asked as she settled into her own seat.

"No, he worked late last night so he's sleeping a little later than usual."

"Something tells me you didn't wake him up to ask if he was okay with that."

"Nope," Stephanie agreed. "I know he's only overbearing because he cares about me and the baby, he wants to protect us, but sometimes I like going places without him, you know?" Crystal nodded, understanding, so Stephanie said, "Plus, sometimes I like being able to take care of him the way he takes care of me and letting him sleep is one of the few ways I can do that."

"I think you're probably taking care of Jason just by staying at his side," Crystal said, a small smile on her face. It was like, despite her distance from them and no one ever having explained anything to her, she understood how important Jason and Stephanie were to each other and how much it meant that they stayed by each other's sides.

"Maybe," Stephanie said, "but it doesn't hurt to take care of him in other ways as well."

"It certainly doesn't," Crystal agreed. There was a quiet moment, neither of them feeling the need to carry the conversation further, before Crystal shifted and asked, "So what else has been happening with you?"

"I had another scan." Stephanie moved so she could swing her bag into her lap, digging through it in search of the picture she had brought to give her mother. She had never seen her mother's room in the facility, but one of the Doctors had told her last time she visited that her mother's walls were covered in pictures of Stephanie and the scans that she brought with her. He had also mentioned that thinking about Stephanie and the idea of being there for Stephanie when she gave birth was one of the things helping her through the program, driving her to meet her goals and start to figure out her life again. "And we found out the baby's sex."

"Oh? Am I having a grandson or a granddaughter?"

"Granddaughter. Jason and I are still trying to figure out a name for her, though."

* * *

Jason strolled through Gotham's back alleys, his hands shoved in his pocket. His backpack, a large black thing, was slung over his shoulders. He was on his way back to the apartment after patrol, so his bag was filled with his gear and empty boxes of snacks that he had shared with the working girls while they talked about the gossip on Gotham's streets.

For anyone else walking around with a bag like he was in the area he was walking in would have been dangerous, but Jason had more faith in his ability to keep anyone from taking his things than most people. In some cases, Jason might just handover the bag and let any punks brave enough to mug him see what was inside. An encounter with the Red Hood would be enough to scare most of them onto a different path, or at the very least teach them not to mug random men on the street.

He was in the middle of wondering if Stephanie would be awake when he got back to the apartment, she'd been sleeping in his bed with him recently and something about his mattress made it easier for her to fall asleep despite the discomfort of being six months pregnant but it wasn't such a good fix that Stephanie being awake when he got back had become uncommon, when he heard something on the roofs above him.

He turned his head up.

To someone else, it might have seemed like there was nothing above him.

To Jason, there was the ripple of a familiar black cape cutting across the sky.

He didn't need to see him to know that Batman had passed above him.

For a moment, Jason's heard a voice whispering for him to take a chance and follow. Regardless of the decisions he'd made in staying with Stephanie, there was still a part of him that wanted to make Bruce see him, to rage at Bruce about what he hadn't done, and to make Bruce do something.

But Jason also knew Bruce was never going to do something, part of him that had known from the moment he had risen from the Lazarus pit that Bruce would never place him above the Joker. Bruce thought everyone was redeemable and he didn't realize that there had to be a line in the sand somewhere, a point when you had to stop excusing someone's actions and hold them accountable for their actions. Bruce would never stop holding onto that belief, not even when it came to the man that had killed his son.

And while part of him did want to go after Bruce, there was a larger part of him telling him to get back to Stephanie.

Bruce was part of the first real family that Jason had had, but Jason had died and that death had severed his ties.

Stephanie and their daughter, and even Stephanie's mom, were his family now and Jason was content with them.

Jason was _happy_  with them.

Bruce would always choose the Joker over Jason, over his son, but Jason would never had dreamed of making the same choice.

Jason would never choose anyone over Stephanie and their daughter. He had spent far too much of his childhood longing for a family, any type of family, to ever make that choice.

Jason turned his head away from the sky, the cape long gone by now, and continued his way down the street. He wanted to get back to Stephanie and see how she was doing.

 

 

 

 **week twenty-four:** leaving something behind doesn't mean it won't come back to you

  
"She likes your reading voice," Stephanie argued.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she doesn't _also_  love what I'm reading her," Jason said.

"The things you're reading her are boring," Stephanie said. The two of them were walking down a street together, the gloved hands between them loosely intertwined while Jason held a bag of books in his other hand. They had gone to one of Jason's favorite bookstore in Gotham so that he could pick up a few things. Stephanie had tagged along with him because the store was close enough to walk, but far enough that that walk would be a nice workout. Though November had brought a chill to the air, Stephanie was enjoying the way the wind bit at her face and brushed through her hair. She was sure she wouldn't be enjoying it quite so much once winter hit Gotham properly, but for now it was nice to be outside without having to deal with the heat from summer. "There's absolutely no way she's enjoying them."

"I don't think they're boring," Jason said. "I happen to like them quite a bit, hence why you suggested we could consider names from them for our daughter."

"I don't think you liking them makes classic novels exciting or means that our daughter likes them," Stephanie said. "She might not be a nerd like you."

"You might not like Shakespeare, but you're pretty nerdy too," Jason pointed out. "I don't think there's any chance of her not growing up a little nerdy as well."

"Yeah, but my nerdy fits my generation." Stephanie swung their joined hands as she added, "We can't all be old men like you."

"Fuck off," Jason said, giving Stephanie's hand a squeeze. "You're two years younger than me, not two decades."

Stephanie opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get the words out, someone said, voice sounding shaken and surprised, "Jason?"

She twisted, looking in the direction the voice had come from.

Standing a few feet away from them was an old man in a finely tailored black suit. His eyes were blue, a few shades darker than Jason's. There was a large bald spot on the top of his head, but there was thick hair on the sides. Despite how old he appeared, his hair was more black than it was white.

Stephanie didn't know who the man was, but the way he was looking at Jason made it clear that he knew Jason.

And the way Jason had stiffened next to her, his hand clamping down on hers, made it clear that he knew the man as well.

"Jason," the man repeated, word coming out like a soft exhale as Jason turned, confirming to the man that it was him. "Some of your fathers friends came back....but I had never dared to hope that..."

Stephanie glanced between the two of them for a moment, trying to figure out what to do.

Jason didn't look unhappy to see the man, though. There was none of the rage that filled his eyes when he spoke about Bruce, just a sort of gentle sad fondness.

A long moment passed before Jason spoke, just two words that he seemed to breath more than speak, "Hi Alfred."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone!! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> 2) I always intended for Stephanie to have a girl in this fic since Stephanie canonically had a girl, but honestly I had Jason and Stephanie wanting a girl because I think Jason WOULD want a girl. He's a huge fan of Wonder Woman and loves his mothers conditionally, while the men in his life tend to not be so great with the exception of Alfred? I think he'd be scared of that more then he'd be scared of not knowing what to do with a girl. It was a happy coincidence that those things matched
> 
> 3) I fully admit that Jason and Stephanie's relationship is probably very heavy and serious for people who are seventeen and nineteen - and who haven't known each other that long - but YOLO. This is the kind of story that I wanted for them.
> 
> 4) A few sections of this feel off to me, but I think that's just because writing in the summer is always strange for me?


	6. Month Seven

"Sir?"

"Yes Alfred?"

"If you could take a break, there's a matter I need to discuss with you."

He looked away from the papers scattered across his desk, giving his attention to the man standing in the office doorway instead. The older man was holding something in his hands, a print out of some kind. He could only see part of it, but it looked like DNA results from the computer down in the cave. "Of course. What do you want to discuss?"

"A young man that I met when shopping yesterday and who these papers confirm him to be." He stepped forward, entering the room properly and holding the papers out. "And what I believe the best course of action would be in order to bring him back to us instead of pushing him away."

Curiosity peaked, he looked down at the papers he'd been handed.

He was right about what the paper was, but he never would have been able to guess whose DNA it was that Alfred had been testing.

When he read the name, shock overtook him and the paper fell from between his fingers.

It fell to the ground. Thirteen year old Jason Todd stared up at him, all bright eyes and a wide toothy grin. 

 

 

  
 **week twenty-five:** past, present, future

  
They had been standing outside for ten minutes before Stephanie squeezed Jason's hand and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? We can go home if you want." Stephanie would have waited longer, would have given Jason more time to gather his thoughts and make his decision without her pushing him, but she was a pregnant woman only a few weeks off of her third trimester. The longer she stood, the more her body felt the burden of the weight she was carrying in her middle.

The two of them were standing outside of a brick building with a large patio in the back, Stephanie could just see the black fencing around it, and large pots with brightly covered flowers framing the front door. It was a small, but nice, restaurant.

Alfred and Jason had had a small conversation on the street, one filled with vague explanations given that they were in public, but it had clearly been a lot for Jason to deal with so Stephanie had suggested meeting again next week, somewhere that they could sit and talk comfortably after everyone had digested things. The restaurant had been Alfred's suggestion for the meeting.

Stephanie had never been there before, but Jason had told her the night before that he had been there several times before.

'One of my favorite things to do when I lived with Bruce was going shopping with Alfred,' Jason had told her as they laid in bed the night before. His voice had been soft, a quiet whisper rustling across the pillow. There had been a small, wistful smile on his face as he thought about distant, happy memories. 'And whenever we finished, Alfred would take me there for lunch.'

"I don't want to go home," Jason said. "I want to do this. I just need another minute."

Stephanie pursed her lips, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Regardless of how badly standing in one spot for so long made her feet feel, she would stick by Jason as long as he was sure he wanted to do this. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," Jason said. He was quiet for a moment, staring at the building, before he said, "This is Alfred. I can't just...I can't not go when it's Alfred." Stephanie made a soft sound, not pushing but giving him room to speak if he wanted. "Alfred was..." He stopped. Started again, "In the early days, Bruce... he had a day job and his work as Batman and he isn't exactly the more emotionally intelligent person. And I had...a lot of issues." Jason stopped again, taking a deep breath. Stephanie wondered why it hurt so much for him to think about it - if it hurt because Bruce not killing the Joker made it all seem like a lie or if it hurt because those relationships were gone and he desperately wanted them back. "Bruce...Bruce took me in, but Alfred was the one who made the manor my home. Without Alfred...Bruce and I probably never would have figured out how to deal with each other. We would have just tiptoed awkwardly around the manor."

Stephanie understood what Jason was getting at.

Maybe Jason needed more time.

But that didn't matter when Alfred was the one asking him for something - not when it was the man who had shown him that he could be safe and happy in the first real home he'd had, not when it was the man who had glued together the only family that Jason had ever really known.

Alfred simply meant too much for Jason to say no to him.

"Okay," Stephanie said. She squeezed Jason's hand, longer than she usually did. "Let me know when you're ready to go in then."

* * *

The beginning of lunch was easy.

Talking about what had happened after his death hurt, but Jason and Stephanie had talked about it before. He'd explained everything to her in a bid to get her to trust him after first asking if she needed his help and they'd discussed it in more detail as their relationship progressed. It was easier to get the words out having already gotten them out before. It was harder to see Alfred's reaction then it had been Stephanie's, he hadn't _known_  Stephanie when he told her but everything he said clearly hurt Alfred so much, but Stephanie was sitting next to him with her hand on his knee and he focused on that in the moments that clearly hurt the man the most.

He didn't tell Alfred everything, leaving things out like the fact that the person who had taken him in was Thalia and that the things that had given him his mind back wasn't natural healing but the Lazarus pit, but he told Alfred most of what had happened. There had been some hand holding, Alfred reaching over to squeeze Jason's and give him comfort, and plenty of words of reassurance.

It was the second half of the lunch that had Jason fumbling, the part where all the tears had been wiped away and Alfred was trying to get to know the person who Jason was now.

Jason just didn't know how to talk about himself.

"Jason, my boy," Alfred said, breaking through the awkward silence that had settled. Alfred's last question had been about what book Jason was reading, something which had prompted his to share a title and then nothing else as he locked up. Usually books were easy to talk about, especially with Alfred, but Jason was feeling a little lost in this situation. It had been years since he had done this, years since he had sat at the Manor's dinner table and eagerly rambled about his day to Bruce and Alfred. "Would you rather not talk?"

Jason startled a bit, surprised. "What?"

"Would you like me to stop asking you questions?" Alfred asked, patient even though he was repeating himself. He continued, "I told you I would like to get to know you more, and that is true. But if you aren't ready to share with me right now, if you would rather just eat today and talk some other afternoon, then I won't force you."

"No, I-" It wasn't necessarily that he didn't want to talk to Alfred. Despite what he had thought when he had seen Bruce on the rooftop the other day, there was a part of Jason that wanted them back. Stephanie and his daughter were his family, but there was part of him that wanted his daughter to have grandfathers as well as her Grandma Crystal. There was part of him that wanted that big, close family that existed in movies and books, part of him that wanted that family he had had for so few of his teenage years. "It's hard. I don't know what to say."

Alfred was quiet for a moment, watching Jason.

He wondered if Alfred was trying to figure out if he was telling the truth, prepared to cut the conversation off for Jason's good despite what he said if he thought Jason had lied.

"Alright," Alfred said at last. "We'll simply have to find a topic that makes it easy for you to find your words. I thought books would help, but I suppose even passion loses out in the face of discomfort."

"I'm sorry," Jason said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, my boy," Alfred said, reaching out and patting Jason on the hand.

There was a quiet moment before Stephanie spoke. She had been silent for most of the lunch, comforting Jason but allowing him to tell his story the way he wanted, so hearing her voice spooked her a bit. "Jason's really passionate about mine and the baby's safety. He's kind of ridiculous about it."

"I'm not," Jason said, looking at Stephanie. He knew what she was doing and it was easy to fall into it, to let himself get wrapped up in the familiarity of this argument. He looked over at Alfred, insisting, "I'm not. She just doesn't care enough about safety."

 

 

 

 **week twenty-six:** moments between you and me, part three

  
Jason shook his head as he climbed in through the living room window, trying to rid his hair of the snowflakes that clung to it.

"You might want to wait until you're out of the window to do that." Jason stopped his shaking, instead looking over at the couch. Despite the late hour, Stephanie was sitting there. She was twisted so that she could see him, the side of her face illuminated by the glow of the TV. "Otherwise you're going to end up hitting your head on it."

"I'm fine," Jason dismissed. Getting both of his feet on the ground, he ducked down through the window. As he stretched himself out, he said, "You're up late. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep."

"Belly or brain?" Jason asked. Stephanie having trouble sleeping wasn't really anything new. It didn't happen all the time, but it was happening more frequently as she got further along. Sometimes she couldn't sleep because her growing belly made it harder and harder for her to find a good position. Sometimes she couldn't sleep because her mind was racing, filled with worry and anxiety about being a mother.

"Belly," Stephanie answered.

Jason watched her for a moment, trying to make sure she was telling the truth. Usually when she was feeling anxious, she preferred to stay quiet about it. Jason did his best to coax her worries out of her so that he could reassure her, but sometimes it was hard when Stephanie didn't want to tell him something was wrong.

It didn't look like she was trying to hide anything from him this time, though.

"Come to bed with me then," Jason said. He crossed the room, moving around the crouch so he was standing in front of her. Now he could see what she was wearing - a pair of black shorts and a fuzzy pink, long sleeved shirt with red polka dots. The shirt was large on her, hanging loosely off her frame. She had the ends wrapped around her hands. It was, Jason thought, a sort of unfairly cute picture all together. "We'll see if you can get more comfortable when there's someone there to cuddle with."

"Contrary to what you believe, cuddling does not solve every problem," Stephanie said.

"What kind of slander is that? Cuddling is the ultimate problem fixer," Jason said. He held his hands out for her. "Come on. I'll prove it to you."

Stephanie reached out, grabbing onto his hands and letting him pull her up onto her feet. "Fine, but I'm not just going to sit there staring at the ceiling for three hours if I can't get to sleep."

"You have my blessing to wake me up if cuddling doesn't do the trick," Jason agreed. He shifted his grip on Stephanie, letting go of one hand but shifting so he could keep the other in his grasp. He took a second to retrieve the remote and turn the TV off. Slipping his fingers through hers, he guided her through the apartment and towards the bedroom they had been sharing. "We'll come out here and watch trashy TV together."

Stephanie looked like she was going to protest, insist that Jason didn't have to stay up just because she couldn't sleep, but she must have realized that it was a futile protest because she just sighed and nodded. "Okay."

* * *

"How are you doing?" Jason said. He set the bowl of chips in his hand down on the coffee table before sinking down onto the floor and crossing his legs in one switch motion.

"I'm fine," Stephanie said. She turned her head, looking at him instead of glancing as she had been. She was lying down on the couch, one hand settled on her stomach and the other holding the book she'd been reading for English. Their class had moved out of Shakespeare's comedies and was covering one of the tragedies before Christmas break and the end of the semester. "She's kicking a little bit, but it's not really any more than usual and I'm getting used to it."

Jason hummed a little bit before lifting a hand, asking, "Can I?"

"Go ahead," Stephanie said.

She moved the hand she'd had on her stomach, allowing Jason to place his against it instead.

"Hey, little girl," Jason said, voice softening instantly as he scooted a little closer to the couch. "You decided it's exercise time? Even though mama's trying to study?" Stephanie felt a soft kick, the movement under Jason's hand. While it was definitely his reading voice that made her the most active, she was always pretty responsive to Jason.

Stephanie thought it was probably reassuring to Jason that their daughter was so in love with him already.

She was Jason's child in every way that mattered, but Stephanie knew that Jason something got caught on the lack of blood connection. Not in the way that he was necessarily unhappy about it, their daughter was his daughter and that wouldn't change, but in that he worried she wouldn't bond with Jason the way she bonded with Stephanie. He seemed to think that while he saw her as his daughter, unquestionably, she wouldn't see him the same way.

These moments, feeling her react to his voice, helped soothe some of that worry.

"I guess it's okay for now since Mama said you aren't being too bad," Jason said, thumb stroking against the cotton of Stephanie's tee-shirt. "But once you get out of there, we're gonna have to come up with a different plan for exercise time so that Mama can actually study."

"We can buy one of those harnesses. The ones that let you strap her to your chest?" Stephanie said, smiling as she thought about it. Jason jogging was a pretty attractive sight, his hair log enough to flop in the wind and a muscle tank showing off his abs and biceps, but there was something about the addition of a baby that made it go from 'sexy' to 'fucking adorable.' He was always complaining about middle age moms that leered at him while he was out. She wondered if there would be more or less women hitting on him when he added a baby to the picture. "And you can take her with you when you go running."

"Good plan," Jason said.

"And you can roll around the floor doing tummy time with her.

"Of course," Jason agreed, nodding a bit. "Does exercise time with Daddy sound okay, baby girl? Does tummy time and jogging sound like something you're willing to do while your mama's trying to get her homework done?" There was another kick under Jason's hand. "Gonna take that as a yes, baby girl."

 

 

 

 **week twenty-seven:**  my future is beautiful, you are my future

  
Jason watched Stephanie eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he tried to figure out what she was doing.

He'd been watching her twist around in front of the mirror for a few minutes before, he finally asked, "Steph, what are you doing? Does it really take ten minutes of posing to decide if you like the outfit?"

Stephanie startled, jumping a bit.

"Fucking shit, Jason," she said. The hand that had been positioned on her hip as she posed flew up to her chest, settling above her breasts. "You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were still in the kitchen."

"I came to get you since dinner's done," Jason said. He felt a little bad about spooking her, but it wasn't something he could really help. He tried to move normally when he was at home with her, but he didn't want to get so used to moving around normally that he forgot to stay silent on a job. He didn't really want to miss out on his daughter's birth because he'd gotten to mask his footsteps. Leaning against the door frame, he asked again, "What are you doing in here?"

"Just looking," Stephanie said.

Jason's lips turned down as Stephanie turned away from him, frowning to herself and looking a little unhappy.

He took a moment to think about what he had walked in on, to think about why Stephanie would look in a mirror and then frown the way she had.

He didn't like the conclusion he drew.

"Steph," Jason said, voice dropping lower. He wasn't sure if it was the anger or concern that drew her attention, but either way it got her looking at him again. "You know you're gorgeous right?"

Jason's fears were confirmed when surprise flickered across Stephanie's face, followed by something far less pleasant. It looked...slightly resigned and a little sad.

"I'm pregnant, Jason."

"And that matters why?" Jason requested.

"I'm fat. And while I know it's because I'm growing a baby, I still can't really find it in me to be happy with that," Stephanie said. She continued listing off, "Not to mention I've been growing body and facial hair in ways that I wasn't before and my face keeps breaking out.

"You're pregnant, Stephanie. It's only natural that your body's a bit different given how that's effecting your hormones," Jason said. He stepped into the room, getting close enough to crowd her against the sink so that she couldn't step away from him and reaching up to set his hands on either side of her face so she'd be forced to look in his eyes. "That doesn't mean that you're any less gorgeous. It's pretty awesome to be able to look at you and see our daughter growing, but even if you were just naturally this big you'd still be fucking hot. Your face is breaking out because your pregnant, but it's also breaking out because your a person who exists, Steph. I'm nineteen and I still get the occasional break out. Acne doesn't go away just because you conquered puberty." He moved on of his hands, tapping her under the chin, "And you might be growing a bit more hair than usual, but you aren't exactly growing a beard, darling. Even if you were, you'd still be pretty gorgeous. I've always liked a beard."

"On men," Stephanie said.

"I definitely like a lumberjack that can throw me around," Jason admitted, smiling at her. "But I've met a few gorgeous women with beards that would put my pathetic attempts at facial hair to shame. Ain't nothing wrong with it if a girl can rock it."

"You know you don't have to say all of this just because I'm having a bad day, right?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "But that's not really a valid complaint given that I'm not saying all of this because you're having a bad day. Like...I might be verbalizing it because you have a bad day, but I'm not making it up just to make you feel better." He leaned forward, brushing his lips against her forehead. "You're absolutely gorgeous, Stephanie, and no one should ever tell you otherwise, not even yourself."

* * *

"I wish we could go ice skating," Stephanie said, letting out a soft sigh as they passed an outdoor ice rink filled with laughing skaters.

She and Jason were walking around downtown, gloved hands linked together and swinging between them.

Gotham's winters were harsh and unrelenting. With Stephanie's immune system compromised by her pregnancy the way it was, it had been a while since the two of them went for a long walk. Stephanie just didn't want to deal with pregnany and a cold while Jason took care of being worried about things like pneumonia. But a snow storm had been raging through Gotham for the past week, canceling school for the three days before Stephanie was supposed to be out for Christmas break, and after spending all that time cooped up in the apartment Stephanie had been eager to get some fresh air.

"Absolutely not," Jason said. "The baby is messing up your balance. You'd fall and then both of you could end up hurt."

"I know, I know. That's why I said I wish we could go, not we should go." Still watching the people skating, she said, "My mom used to take me skating around this time of the year. With my dad in and out of prison, she wasn't always able to throw a huge Christmas for me, you know? But she always managed to find money and time to take me ice skating and buy me hot chocolate in the week before." Humming a bit, she added, "We didn't go last year."

"Because she was drinking?" Jason asked.

"Yes," Stephanie

Jason squeezed her hand, a show of support that Stephanie appreciated even if it wasn't necessary.

Stephanie hadn't told Jason about ice skating because she needed support, she'd told him because it was a reminder of her mother's love for her and it was nice to remember.

Back when it had first happened there had been a part of Stephanie that was unbelievably bitter that her mother had found the strength to overcome her alcoholism for her granddaughter, that Stephanie herself hadn't been enough emotion. Now, with time and the discussions they had had during the family therapy sessions mandated by her mother's rehab center, Stephanie was coming to realize that her mother wasn't doing all of this for her granddaughter, but for Stephanie.

Oh she loved the little girl Stephanie was carrying, but more than that she loved _Stephanie_  and she wanted to be there to help her raise her children.

"She won't be able to skate by herself, but maybe next year you can come by with Ariel," Jason said, breaking Stephanie out of her thoughts. "Your mom should be around then too. It can be a pre-Christmas girls day."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, thinking about skating around the rink with her daughter in her arms and her mother's laughter following them. It was an image she liked. "That sounds nice." She was quiet for a moment before adding, "Also, we're not naming her Ariel."

"You don't like it?" Jason asked. "I thought it was nice. A nice combination of old literature for me and something newer for you."

"I don't hate it," Stephanie said. "But I'm not digging the idea of naming her after a Disney princess, even if you're going to spoil her like one."

 

 

  
 **week twenty-eight:** our first christmas

  
"She hasn't even been born yet," Jason said, peering over his coffee cup at the pile of presents scattered around the tiny Christmas tree that Stephanie had set up in the apartment, "and the number of presents she's being given is already out of control."

"I'm not having a baby shower," Stephanie pointed out. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the tree, pulling the presents out and setting them off in a pile so that she could unwrap them. There was one on each side of her, keeping Alfred and Crystal's presents separate so they would know who to thank for what. "Mom and Alfred are just trying to help us by giving us the stuff we'd get if I did have one."

Jason hummed. Stephanie had a point, but he still thought it was a little ridiculous. He and Stephanie hadn't gotten any presents for the baby, because it had seemed a little pointless to buy and wrap things that they would just be unwrapping anyway, but Alfred and Crystal had given them so many gifts that it looked like Dudley's birthday in a Harry Potter movie.

"I'm going to have to set up the nursery soon," Jason said. Stephanie hadn't moved into his room officially, but they had already talked about her doing that so that they could turn Stephanie's room into a nursery. "There's no way we can fit all of this stuff in the apartment without it."

"You were going to have to start setting up the nursery soon anyway," Stephanie said. She set down a package wrapped in the black paper with white reindeer's that Alfred had used, or it was at least one of the ones that he had used because when Alfred had given Jason the gifts at their weekly lunch there had been at least three different types of wrapping paper, before reaching forward to grab something else from under the tree. She made a soft sound as she started to pull something out, asking, "Do you know who used the green paper with the holly? I don't think I see any other presents with it."

"It's from me to you, not Alfred or your mom."

Once she wiggled her way back out from under the tree, Stephanie shot Jason a look. "You said we weren't exchanging gifts."

"Yeah, because I didn't want you to worry about getting me a gift," Jason said with a shrug. "But I found that and it was perfect for you, so I bought it." Shifting a bit, he tapping his toe lightly against her thigh. "You should open it now, before we start with the baby's things."

Stephanie gave him another look, but didn't object.

She settled down and worked the wrapping paper off to reveal a small jewelry box.

"It's too big for a ring," Stephanie observed. She glanced up at him. "A necklace?"

Jason hummed, choosing not to say anything.

Stephanie looked back at the box, pushing the top up.

Sitting inside was a sterling silver necklace with two heart-shaped charms attached. One of the charms was silver with the word 'Mom' engraved in swooping black lettering. The second charm was a heart filled with pink and the silhouette of a young girl.

"I know she hasn't been born yet," Jason said. Stephanie's eyes were locked on the necklace, one of her hands coming up to play with the charms, but her head was tipped to let him know she was listening. "But since there are all these presents under the tree for her, this felt like our first Christmas as a family. Like it's your first Christmas as a mom. I wanted to get you something to show for it."

"Thank you," Stephanie said, voice quiet and a little bit awed. She stared at it for another moment before looking at him again. "Put it on for me before we unwrap the other gifts?"

"Sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry that it's several days past the one month mark, meaning that I completely missed this story's July update!! Time ceases to have meaning in the summer which makes me terrible at being productive. On the plus side, this chapter is a little longer than usual.
> 
> 2) There are a few hints in this chapter about the baby's name! The best places to look are week twenty-six part two and week twenty-seven part two :)


	7. Month Eight

**week twenty-eight:** the good kind of strange

  
"Are you not helping anymore?" Jason said. His voice was more amused than upset.

The two of them were in the process of moving Stephanie's things out of the apartment's second bedroom and into Jason's. Once everything had been moved, Jason had plans to start turning the room into a nursery for the baby.

It was a strange sort of thing, to be nineteen and having a girl moving into his bedroom. They were doing this because they genuinely adored each other and were prepared to start a proper life together. Maybe they were young for it, but Stephanie was eight months pregnant and they were going to be each other's family for the rest of their lives. They were growing up fast, but it was necessary. It felt strange, but it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to Jason and he appreciated that at least this was a good sort of strange.

"I'm pregnant. I'm a week from my third trimester," Stephanie responded. She was sitting on the floor in front of Jason's dresser, just glancing at her was enough for Jason to know he was going to have to help her get up once she was ready, surrounded by piles of clothing that belonged to both of them. She was in the middle of pulling a pile of his tee-shirts out, making pace to put some of her own in the drawer. "If you think that I'm helping you carry furniture, then you're dead wrong."

"I'm not asking you to carry the furniture," Jason said, even though they both knew that was true. Jason didn't think he was overprotective, thought he was just the right amount of cautious given how fragile Stephanie and the baby were, but he didn't even let Stephanie carry the heavy grocery bags. There was no way he was going to let her help him move furniture. "I just thought you'd move your own clothes and shit."

"I moved some of them," Stephanie said, making a gesture to the piles around her. "And now I'm unpacking them."

"You are being unhelpful," Jason remarked.

"Part of moving is unpacking," Stephanie told him.

"Uh huh." Far from actually annoyed with Stephanie, because Jason would never admit it but he felt better knowing that she was sitting on the floor putting clothes away instead of hauling something around the apartment or doing something that might end up with her getting hurt, Jason smiled. He set his hand against the top of the dresser in order to keep his balance and then leaned forward so that he could press his lips against the crown of Stephanie's hair, leaving a kiss against her golden hair. Afterwards he straightened up, telling her, "I'm going to move the rest of your old furniture down to the curb. It shouldn't take more than half an hour. Lunch afterwards?"

She hummed a bit before shifting, tilting her head back to look up at him, "Are you cooking?"

"I can," Jason said, moving his hand so he could push some of her hair off of her forehead. "But I was thinking I would pick up a pizza from Mirio's. Feels like a more appropriate moving food."

"Pizza sounds fantastic," Stephanie said, tongue darting out to run across her lips afterwards. "You'll get pineapple and ham?"

"Sure," Jason agreed. He bent down to brush his lips against her forehead, only for Stephanie to tip herself even further back so that he met her lips instead. When he pulled away, he found her grinning up at him. He grinned back for a moment before stepping out of her space. "Alright. I'm gonna go call in the order and then start moving furniture."

* * *

Stephanie made her way down her school's front steps, trying to watch the ground and the students flowing around her. Her baby bump had thrown her balance off recently and with the pavement around Gotham Public as icy and hazardous as it was, Stephanie was doing her best to be careful and avoid falling.

She had just reached the bottom step and was about to make her way to the bus stop when Lisa, one of Stephanie's sort-of friends, set her hand on Stephanie's arm and turned her slightly. "Your boyfriend is here! No bus for you today."

"Oh," Stephanie said, blinking a bit when she noticed Jason standing at the curb. His bike wasn't really an option with Stephanie as pregnant as she was and Jason had put it away a few months ago anyway, Gotham's winter winds stinging far too much for him to drive it, so Jason was leaning against the black Ford Taurus he'd been driving since. "Thanks for telling me."

"No problem!" Lisa said. While they weren't super close, Stephanie appreciated how much time Lisa had spent helping her out today. They had a lot of their classes together, so Lisa had walked with her and kept her from getting bumped into. "See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow," Stephanie returned.

She watched Lisa for a moment, the girl going towards the student parking lot and her own car, before making her way towards Jason.

He had his head bent down, looking at his phone, so as she drew closer Stephanie called his name. When he looked up at her, she asked, "What are you doing here? You didn't tell me that you were going to pick me up."

"It's cold, you could fall easily, and it's your first day back at school," Jason told her.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. "What does it being my first day back have to do with anything?"

Jason shrugged, but there was something in the way he shifted his weight that captured her attention. She narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to figure out what had him so worried. She was certain she was, at least a little bit, worried about the cold and her falling. Jason hovered constantly when they were outside, always right at her elbow so he grab her if she lost her balance and started falling. It wasn't until his gaze drifted from her to a group of boys walking by her and something steely, protective, flashed across them that she realized what it was.

"Oh," she said, feeling warmth bloom in her chest. She found Jason's over-protectiveness a little suffocating sometimes, but sometimes it was sweet to think about how much he cared for her. "You thought someone might make fun of me because I'm seventeen and pregnant? Because the Princess grew a lot while I was on break and now I'm so big that it's kind of hard to ignore the fact that I'm pregnant."

Jason opened his mouth as if to deny it, but closed it instead of getting the words out.

Stephanie figured he'd just given up on arguing considering Stephanie had pinpointed his reason so soundly.

"No one making fun of me," Stephanie told him. She stepped close to him, putting on hand on his arm and lifting up on her toes to brush a kiss against his cheek. "But thank you for worrying about me."

 

 

 

 **week twenty-nine:** moments between you and me, part four

  
Jason was sitting at the dining room table with blueprints for the warehouse he was breaking into that night when he heard the front door opening.

"I'm home!" Stephanie called.

"Welcome back!" Jason said. He'd gotten good at taking care of things quickly since Stephanie had moved in with him, wanting to keep his work away from her even if Stephanie continuously insisted it wasn't necessary, so by the time Stephanie stepped into the dining room, Jason had all of the blueprints rolled up. He didn't have a bag to shove them in, had just grabbed them out of the locked chest in the bedroom, and chose to just push them off to the side instead. "How was your class?"

Around the middle of her second trimester, when her stomach had been growing bigger and her boy had started experiencing the pain that went with carrying so much extra weight, Stephanie had started taking prenatal yoga classes since she'd read that yoga could help with some of the pain.

Jason had tagged along for her first class, a little unsure about the whole thing. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't believe the pregnancy websites and books that Stephanie had looked at, just that he'd found himself slightly skeptical given how women had to bend for some poses. But that first class had been relaxed and the instructor had been understanding of his concerns, assuring him that she only did easy to mid-level poses in her prenatal classes and that she watched all of the students carefully to make sure things were okay with them.

"It was good," Stephanie said.

She was wearing a pair of black yoga pants with galaxy printed razorback tank and her blonde hair had been pulled up into a high ponytail. Jason's coat, a thick black thing with a wool linear on the instead, was draped over her arm. Jason knew she had been wearing it when she left, preferring Jason's to the one they'd found her the last time they had to go maternity shopping, and he doubted that she would have walked around without it even after a work out. He figured she had probably taken it off once she got into the building's lobby.

It had been a struggle to find maternity clothes that Stephanie was comfortable with. Most mothers were older than her, so the styles were directed towards women in their late twenties or early thirties. Stephanie had liked some of the clothing, but mostly it had made her feel uncomfortable and unfashionable. The last thing Jason wanted this late was for Stephanie to be wearing clothes she hated given that the pregnancy had already started having an effect on her self-confidence. Jason had looked all over the city before finding a place that catered towards mothers that were a little younger. It was meant mostly for young religious women who had gotten married right out of high school so most of the clothes were a little conversation, but they'd been able to find enough clothing that Stephanie liked and was happy with to create a maternity wardrobe that made Stephanie feel okay with her outfits.

"Are you hungry?" Jason asked, already pushing himself to his feet. Even though he asked the question, he didn't really need an answer. Stephanie was _always_  hungry after her yoga classes. "I'll start making dinner. I was thinking of trying out a chicken noodle soup recipe I found."

"Soup sounds good," Stephanie told him. "It's freezing outside."

"It's the middle of January and we live in Gotham. What else were you expecting?"

"It wasn't an expectation so much as a frantic wish."

Jason hummed as he moved to the fridge, beginning to rummage around for the ingredients he needed. "Hear any good gossip in class?"

"Yes!" Stephanie exclaimed. They both enjoyed the gossip of Stephanie's yoga class, finding the dramatics were much more entertaining when it wasn't their lives falling apart. "Okay, so you know how I told you Karen and Lauren always come to class together? Well today they didn't and apparently it's because Lauren's baby is actually Karen's brother's!"

* * *

Stephanie wrapped her arms around Jason's waist, pressing her forehead between his shoulder blades and letting out a soft groan.

"Hello there," Jason greeted, sounding a little amused. He didn't try to shrug her off or push her off, something that Stephanie was grateful for. She was feeling a little overwhelmed and she just wanted to be pressed close to Jason.

"Hi," Stephanie said, words spoken against the fabric of Jason's tee-shirt. She could feel the strong lines of his back under it, felt the flexing of it as Jason moved to placed his hands over hers.

"Something you wanna talk about?" Jason asked. She felt the warmth of his skin as he started swiping his thumb along the side of her hand, a soft slow motion that she couldn't help enjoying. She pressed her face further against him, humming noncommittally. Something about her behavior must have tipped him off to how she was feeling because the amusement dropped out of his voice, replaced by something soft and questioning, "What's wrong, Steph?"

"Just...She's going to be here soon, you know?"

"Yeah, that's why I've been putting together a nursery and why we seem to be spending every weekend shopping," he said. His thumb didn't stop it's trek across her skin, Jason keeping up the soothing motion. "I'm pretty sure we have more baby bottles than cups at this point."

Stephanie hummed against him again. After a moment she said, "I just want to make sure we're ready for her."

Jason was quiet for a moment before letting out a soft, "Aaaah."

"Steph, we are not going to be ready for this baby when it comes," Jason said Panic swelled in Stephanie, but Jason kept going, "But that's because no one is ever really ready for a baby, okay? Most people who get pregnant at a reasonable time in their life still wake up the morning of the birth and go 'oh fuck what do you mean it's time for the baby.' Hell, most people have a second kid and still don't know what the fuck their doing because it's suddenly a whole different ballgame. So I'm pretty sure we don't have a chance in hell at really being fully prepared for this kid, okay?"

"You're not helping."

"I'm not done," Jason said. He move so that instead of his thumb rubbing against her hand, his hand was wrapped around her wrist. She couldn't imagine that it was very comfortable given the way he would have had to angle his hand to pull it off, but she appreciated the firmness of the touch. It was grounding in a way. "We're never gonna be ready for this baby, okay? But no one ever really is, okay? The fact that we're gonna be confused as hell for the next eighteen years of our lives doesn't mean that we're going to be bad parents. Somethings are gonna be harder than others and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to go to the store like every day to pick up all the little shit we realize we forgot to buy, but we're gonna figure it out."

"What if we don't?"

"We will," Jason said, not giving Stephanie's doubts any room to grow. He gave Stephanie's wrist a squeeze. "We will."

 

 

 

 **week thirty:** the now and the later

  
"How are you two feeling?" Crystal asked. She sat across from Jason and Stephanie, leaning against the table. There were three mugs filled with hot chocolate between them. The one by Stephanie's elbow was piled high with marshmallows. "I was a complete mess around this time in my pregnancy."

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm a mess," Stephanie said. She and Jason were sitting side by side, close enough that their thighs touched under the table. "Jason's just gotten really good at talking me down from baby related panic attacks."

Crystal laughed a little. "The opposite of the early days then!"

"I wasn't nearly as bad as Stephanie is now," Jason objected.

"You were pretty bad," Stephanie told him.

"I was not," Jason said. "No matter what you say, I wasn't being overprotective. I was a perfectly reasonable amount of worried given that I was trying to make sure you and our daughter were okay."

Stephanie hummed, a smile on her lips. "Mm-huh. Whatever you say, Jay." He opened his mouth, further objections on his tongue, but before he could get them out, Stephanie asked, "What about you, Mama? How are you doing?"

"I'm good. Everything is going okay," Crystal said. Something nervous fluttered across her expression before she said, "I should be able to leave the week before your due date. If you'd still like for me to stay with you after she's born then...."

"We do," Stephanie said. She reached across the table so she could grab her mother's hand, lying her own over it. "Of course we still want you to stay with us, Mama."

The offer was one that had been made almost two months ago, but hadn't been spoken about much since just incase things didn't go according to plan. Stephanie was terrified of not knowing what to do in those first few days at home with the baby, so when she'd found out that the program recommended graduates spend the first two weeks with a family member she had jumped on the opportunity to have her mother around to help.

"Stephanie is right, Crystal," Jason said. Given that they were particularly close, bound by their mutual love for Stephanie but not having interacted enough to have a relationship of their own, Jason didn't reach for her the way Stephanie did. But he did smile. "I've read a hundred books on parenting, but I'm pretty sure I'm still gonna be flying in the dark once the baby comes. It would be nice to have someone who knows what their doing around to help out for a week or two."

"Are you sure?" Crystal asked. "I don't want to intrude on your bonding time with her."

Stephanie gave her mother's hand a squeeze, assuring her as she said, "We're sure, Mama. We'll have plenty of time to bond with her while you're there and we'll have plenty of time to bond with her after you go home. We want to have you around for those first few weeks."

"If you two are sure than it _would_  be nice to spend sometime with you, Stephanie, and I would love to help you with my granddaughter." She paused for a moment, then in what Stephanie thought was an attempt to lighten the mood, she asked, "Is 'my granddaughter' still the only way I can refer to her? Or have you picked a name yet?"

"Oh don't get us started," Stephanie said, groaning a little bit. "We spend so much time arguing about names."

"Yeah? What have you guys considered?" she asked. "What have we already dismissed?"

* * *

Jason was in the middle of debating whether to eat a piece of the rainbow roll or a piece of shrimp tempura, because he couldn't have sushi with Stephanie and he was determined to enjoy every bit that he could get before he returned home, when Alfred asked, "Have you considered what we talked about last time?"

"About the nursery?" Jason asked. Making his decision, he stretched his chopsticks out to grab a piece of the rainbow roll, chatting casually as he did. He had been wound up tight the past week, finding it hard to sleep the closer they got to the due date because he preferred watching Stephanie sleep and making sure she was okay, but having lunch with Alfred had eased some of the tension in him. It wasn't that being around Stephanie and the baby stressed him out so much as it was that being around Alfred always made Jason feel like everything would be okay. "Yeah, I decided you were right. The white furniture definitely gives off a friendlier vibe than the dark wood."

"I'm pleased that you agree, but I wasn't referring to our discussion on baby furniture," Alfred said. "I was speaking of our discussion about your father."

Jason wanted to argue that Bruce Wayne was not his father, but it was a futile argument. Both because they both knew that was a lie and because Alfred wouldn't let Jason get away with saying something like that.

"Oh, that." Jason took a moment to eat the piece of sushi he'd grabbed before saying, "As far as I'm concerned, there isn't really anything to think about, so no."

"Master Jason," Alfred said. He wasn't exactly scolding Jason, but there was a hint of disapproval there. "I do not believe you should rob yourself of a support system or your father of the opportunity to be a grandfather-"

"I have a support system. We have you and Stephanie's mom," Jason pointed out. "And I'm not robbing him of jackshit. I'm sure Dick and the replacement will have kids eventually. He'll be a grandfather someday. Just not to my kid."

"He will still be your child's grandfather, he just won't know it."

"Oh, I'm sure he knows it," Jason responded. "I'm not an idiot, Alf. I might have asked you not to tell him, but you did, didn't you?"

"I told your father that you were alive. I would not betray his information or his _heart_  by not telling him that," Alfred said. "He asked me how you were doing. I will confess that I told him you were living a good life and that you were expecting a child. I didn't tell him anything more personal that than. I would not betray your trust but revealing you're entire life to him."

"I didn't even want him to know that much. 

Alfred opened his mouth, "Master Jason-"

"Stop," Jason interrupted. He couldn't remember a single other time in his life when he had cut Alfred off like that. It was something that Jason wouldn't have dreamed of doing in any other situation. He was quiet for a second, thinking of what to say next, before finally saying, "I would appreciate if you would stop acting like I'm the one who wronged Bruce, like it's my responsibility to fix things between us. And Bruce might not think he did something wrong , but he did. He chose not to kill the Joker. He chose to put the replacement in that suit. Dying may have been my fault, but it wasn't my choice. It's not my job to make Bruce feel better about that. But Bruce made choices that hurt me and I don't have to invite a man who hurt me into my life. You want me to get over all of that? Then maybe you should try talking to Bruce about reaching out and apologizing for his mistakes instead of putting all of this on me."

Jason debated for a moment just how rude he was willing to be to Alfred given how much he cared for the man before deciding ultimately that he didn't really care in this moment.

With his appetite gone and his desire to be in his grandfather's presence dwindling, Jason pushed his chair back and reached for his wallet. "I'm going to go home. I'll call you tomorrow."

 

 

 

 **week thirty-one:**  his project, her trust

  
"I don't understand why I can't see it," Stephanie said. She was sitting at the kitchen island, leaning against the counter with her legs swinging freely below her. Jason was bustling round the stove in front of her, making dinner. She'd asked him to make some kind of pasta and he had settled on chicken alfredo.

"Because it's a surprise," Jason told her, speaking in that half exasperated half amused tone that he always did when they were having a conversation they'd had several times before.

Stephanie didn't let that deter her any. They argued a lot about little things, enjoying the release that came with pushing each other, and she was used to hearing that tone. Whenever she felt insecure, that tone reminded her that their arguments were friendly and that Jason wasn't genuinely upset with her. "But don't you want my opinion on it? I mean I am her mother."

"I'm going to finish the nursery before she's born," Jason said. "You can give me your opinion once it's done. And I'll change anything you want changed."

"You won't have to change anything. I'm sure I'll like it."

"Why are you so insistent on seeing it if your so sure you'll like it?"

"Because I'm not a fan of surprises. I prefer immediate gratification."

Jason let out a snorting laughter. "I'm well aware of that."

"Oh fuck off," Stephanie said, even as the joke brought a smile to her face. She reached for the towel sitting on the counter next to her, throwing it towards him. It didn't exactly whip through the air, instead hitting Jason's back weakly. "Our daughter can hear you, you know. She doesn't want to hear about things like that."

He didn't bother reacting to the towel, instead focused on stirring the sauce as he pointed out, "That's not the greatest argument since that imply our daughter can hear you when you're feeling all that gratification."

Stephanie wrinkled her nose. "Okay. You have a point."

"I usually do." He was quiet for a bit before looking over his shoulder and catching her eye. "Are you really that bothered by me putting the nursery together without you? Because if you are then I'll show you what I've done and what I've bought and what I'm planning on doing."

She thought about it for a moment before sighing.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I may not like not knowing what's happening, but this is a nice surprise and I really do trust that you're setting up a beautiful nursery for our daughter."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I updated and I apologize for that! I hope you were all able to enjoy this chapter!
> 
> 2) It's important to remember for this chapter, I think, that Jason hasn't actually done anything to Bruce in this universe. Did he have plans for revenge? Yeah, but he dropped those when Stephanie asked. Has he done things/is doing things Batman doesn't approve of? Absolutely, but that isn't a personal slight that Bruce gets to take a pound of flesh from him for. Jason has /nothing/ to make up to Bruce in this universe.


	8. Month Nine

**week thirty-two:** preparation is futile

  
"What about this one?" Stephanie asked, holding up a purple onesie with a flowy black skirt attached.

"Cute," Jason said. He leaned against the handle of the cart, sternum pressing against the plastic in the center. "I thought we weren't going to buy her a bunch of clothes though? Since she's going to grow out of them so quickly."

"I don't want to buy her a bunch. I just want to make sure we have a good amount to choose from."

Amused, he said, "You've bought her more outfits than she could wear in a year."

"Maybe, but it's not like I bought everything in the same infant size. Some of it she'll grow into." She looked at the outfit in her hands for a moment before looking back up at him, lip caught between her teeth. "Am I getting too much stuff?"

He was quick to shake his head, assuring, "No. You're fine." He had meant to tease her, not make her feel bad. Jason didn't have any problem with how much Stephanie had bought for the baby. There was a part of him that was reassured by each purchase, feeling as if they were less likely to discover that they had forgotten anything.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." He leaned further against the cart, moving it so it bumped against her legs. The things already in the cart, mostly it was miscellaneous groceries like bread and milk since that was what they'd come to the store but there were a few other baby things that they'd picked up, rolled around when the front of the cart tapped her. Those other baby things, several bips with dancing animals on the front as well as a large box of diapers that were on sale, were what had drawn them into the baby aisles to begin with. Stephanie had spotted the bips when they were heading towards the check out and dragged him over to look. "Put that in the cart and look for anything else you want to get her."

She repeated, "You're sure?"

"Yup," Jason said. Glancing around the area, he said, "We should see if they have any Daddy's Little Princess onesies. I don't think she has enough?"

It was enough to make Stephanie forget about her worry for a second, letting out a burst of laughter that brought a smile to Jason's lips.

"Jay," she said, voice filled with a affection and amusement which made Jason's heart pound. His heart always raced when Stephanie spoke to him like that, when her love for him was so obvious and unhidden. "Like half her wardrobe says Daddy's Little Princess on it."

"That's because she is Daddy's Little Princess."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we need to advertise it on everything she wears."

"Of course we do. How else will people know not to fuck with her?"

"I'm pretty sure just seeing you with her will be enough for people to know not to fuck with her. You're kind of intimidating, Jay."

"I don't see that as being a problem."

"Me either," Stephanie said. She set the outfit in her hands down in the cart before turning back to the racks in front of her. As she did, "Besides, you make intimidating look really hot."

* * *

"Where should I set the baby stuff?" Stephanie asked as she moved through the living room. She was carrying the bags with the baby stuff that they had bought. Jason followed behind her with the groceries they had gotten as well as the box of diapers. "Considering I'm not allowed in the nursery and everything?"

"I finished the nursery last weekend," Jason said.

"What?" Stephanie stopped and spun, turning to look at Jason with surprise spread over her features. "You did?"

"Yeah. Baby's almost here, you know? I had to get it done sometime soon."

"Why didn't you tell me that it was done?"

"I was waiting for a good moment to surprise you with it." He grinned as he passed by her, shifting one arm out so one of the bags in his hands slapped against her thigh. "Go. I'll put the groceries away. When I'm done I'll come find you and you can tell me how awesome the nursery is."

Stephanie watched for a moment, lips pursed together as she tried to decide if she wanted to say anything else.

Ultimately, she decided that she was more interested in seeing the nursery than she was in arguing with Jason over him not telling her the nursery was finished. Instead of following him into the kitchen, she made her way through the apartment and down the hallway until she reached the door that used to be hers, the door that was now the nursery.

Reaching for the doorknob, she pushed the door open and peered into the room.

The walls had been white before, but now they were a soft blue-green that went well with the sunlight streaming in through the window. Pushed into the corner directly in front of the doorway was a large white crib. Stepping towards the center of the room, Stephanie turned towards the crib and found that someone had painted a white branch with red blossoms on the wall above it.   
Next to the crib was a white eight cube storage set up. Four of the cubes had red cloth boxes in them while the rest each held a single stuffed animal. When Stephanie opened the drawers, she found that each one of them was filled with the clothes that they had already bought her. Next to the door was a white changing table with a red base covered in white polka dots. Under the changing area was a large cabinet filled with boxes of diapers and wipes that they had bought already. In the corner diagonal from the doorway was a white rocking chair. The upholstery was red with branches of white looping through it. There was a two part footrest in front of the rocking chair - the main body pure red while the lid was the same pattern as the rocking chair.

Stephanie hadn't realized how long she had been standing there, open mouthed and wide eyed, until she heard Jason say, "What do you think?"

"I am absolutely infuriated," Stephanie said. She turned away from the rocking chair, turning so she could see Jason. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed. There had been a smug smile on his face, but now it dropped away. Before what she had said could really set in, she continued, "I can't make fun of you for being so smug about it because it's just as awesome as you think it is." She could feel her features softening, a quiet smile settling on her lips. "It's perfect, Jay. Absolutely perfect."

 

 

 

 **week thirty-three:** sleepy conversations

  
"Jay?" There was a moment before another soft, whispered, "Jay?"

Jason stirred. His voice was a low, sleepy, slurred rumble as he said, "Wha?"

Silence reigned for a long time.

Jason might have gone back to sleep, but the combination of the late night wake up, the long silence, and the awkward shifting he could feel Stephanie doing had him moving. Instead of letting himself drift off again, he lifted himself up and turned so he was facing Stephanie. He always went to sleep facing away from her, careful not to fall asleep while holding her. He was having fewer nightmares nowadays, but that didn't mean that he wasn't still afraid of trapping Stephanie in a too-tight hold and hurting her in his panic. Just sleeping in the same bed as her was risky enough.

She was lying on the bed next to him, eyes wide open as she stared at the ceiling. Her hands were resting over the blanket, right on top of her stomach.

"Steph?" he said, worry spiking. He thought Stephanie would have been sounded a bit more panicked and rushed when waking him up if something was really wrong, but it was possible she was in shock. "Are you okay? Is the Princess okay?"

"She's fine," Stephanie said.

"But you aren't?"

There was a small moment before Stephanie said, voice lowering to a whisper again, "Do you think I'll be a bad mom?"

 _Oh,_  Jason thought _. It's that kind of not fine._

He felt bad for it, but there was a wave of relief that crashed over him. He wasn't happy that Stephanie was feeling insecure and unsure, but it was nice to know that neither Stephanie or the baby was in any physical damage. He could do something about emotional damage, could talk to her and listen to her worries, but he wasn't a doctor. If something had been physically wrong with Stephanie or the baby then he wouldn't have been able to do anything.

Jason shifted, moving so he was pressed up against Stephanie's side. She shifted, moving herself even closer to him so they were practically plastered together.

"You are going to be a great mother," he told her, burying his face into the curtain of her hair and wrapping his arms around her.

"I don't feel like I'm going to be a good mother."

"I"m pretty sure everyone who has a baby feels that way." He said, "I certainly don't feel like I'm going to be a good father."

"You will be," she said. "You're going to be a fantastic dad."

"I hope so. I'm going to try my best to be. That doesn't mean I will be, though." Jason said, "I'm positive your going to be a great mom though."

"You don't know that."

"You don't know that I'll be a good dad," Jason pointed out. Stephanie looked like she wanted to argue, but Jason spoke again before she could get the words out, "I know you're going to be a good mom because I know you. You think I'm going to be a good dad because you know me. We both have incredibly biased opinions of our own abilities. So how about you stop instead of arguing and worrying about our own abilities, we worry about each other's abilities?"

Stephanie was quiet for a moment before saying, "Fine. But only because you really _are_  going to be a great dad and I don't like you thinking otherwise."

"And you really are going to be a great mom."

* * *

"Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her," Jason read. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch while Stephanie laid down on it. In his hands was a copy of Pride and Prejudice, the spine bent and battered from having been read so many times. "Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished forever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice."

Before he could continue, Stephanie interrupted, voice quiet and soft with a sleepy quality, "You would think that by now I would have this book memorized."

Lifting his gaze away from the pages, Jason looked at her, saying, "It's not like Pride and Prejudice is the only thing I've read to her."

"No, but I do think it's the thing you've read to her the most." She had had her eyes closed, trying to get some sleep since the baby had kept her up the night before, but now she opened one to peer at Jason. Giving him a small smile, she said, "I'm becoming very familiar with Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth."

"It's my favorite."

"Hers too apparently." Stephanie drummed her fingers against her stomach, adding, "I mean, anytime you read to her she calms down, but she freezes up pretty much as soon as you start reading Pride and Prejudice."

"She has excellent taste," Jason said. He leaned forward to press a kiss against Stephanie's stomach, lips brushing against the fabric of her tee-shirt. He stayed close when he pulled away, murmuring, "Don't you, baby girl? You know a good story when you hear it."

There was quiet laughter from Stephanie before Jason felt a hand come to rest in his hand. He hummed a bit when Stephanie scratched her nails against his scalp, enjoying the way it felt.

"Put the book down and nap with me," she said.

"Thought you wanted me to read so that Princess would stop somersaulting?"

"She stopped a while ago. Like I said, she freezes up pretty much as soon as you start reading Pride and Prejudice." She tugged a bit on his hair, not enough to hurt but enough for Jason to know what she wanted and turn away from the baby so he could see her face. "Nap time."

Jason laughed a little bit before nodding. "Alright, alright. I'll come up there with you."

"To nap?" Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow. "You're not just gonna cuddle me while reading?"

"No. I'm coming up there to nap with you. Promise."

 

 

 

 **week thirty-four:** how lucky am I that I get to love this girl?

  
"What are you doing?" Stephanie asked. Her face was dark red, colored not by the air but by a deep blush of embarrassment. As she came to a stop in front of Jason, she could feel the other students glancing at them curiously.

"Picking you up," Jason said. "It's your last day of school before the baby's born. I told you I was coming to get you today."

"Yes, but you didn't tell me you were going to come with all of this," she said, gesturing at Jason. He had a large heart-shaped box of chocolates in his hands and a bright pink teddy bear tucked under his arm. A second teddy bear was on the ground next to him, head coming up to Jason's waist even though it was sitting down.

"It's Valentines Day. You thought I wasn't going to get you something?"

Stephanie opened her mouth to answer, then closed it instead.

Jason hadn't said anything about Valentines outside of discussing how it was Stephanie's last day before switching to online classes. But now that he was in front of her, she realized how ridiculous it was to assume they weren't celebrating just because he hadn't mentioned it.

Jason was a romantic. He loved fiercely, passionately, and with his entire being. He regularly showed off his love, taking any and every chance to show Stephanie that he adored her. He brought her flowers on random days of the week just because he'd passed the shop near their apartment and thought about her. He spun her around their living room when a particularly romantic song came on the radio, a warm hand on the small of her back and a large loving smile on his lips. He made her favorites foods for her whenever she was feeling down and kept a list of things Stephanie mentioned wanting but not being able to have so that he could make them for her after she had the baby.

It was ridiculous to think he wouldn't use Valentines as another opportunity to do that.

Instead of answering, she said, "You got me two teddy bears?"

"No." Jason held the chocolates and small teddy bear out towards her. Stephanie took them from him. The bear's fur was pleasantly soft under her fingertips. "I got those for you. The big one is for the Princess."

"You can not give her a bear that big. She'll suffocate."

"I'm not planning on putting it in the crib with her as soon as she's born," Jason said. "We'll set it up in the rocking chair until she's a little older."

Putting it in the rocking chair sounded like something that would end up being exhausting, what with how often she was going to have to move it for late night or early morning feedings, but when she pictured the nursery with a giant teddy bear in the rocking chair it seemed a little bit more complete. And when she imagined a tiny toddler with her blonde hair climbing over the teddy bear with a large smile on her face she couldn't help smiling herself.

"Alright," Stephanie agreed. She glanced down at the things in her arms, a small smile coming over her lips. When she looked back up, she said, "Thank you for all of this."

"You don't have to thank me," Jason said.

Stephanie hummed a bit, smile widening. She didn't think that was true, but she liked that he thought that way. She liked knowing that Jason didn't feel like she owed him anything for his love, that Jason thought she should expect these romantic things from him because it was the right thing to do when you were in love with someone.

She said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Jason leaned in, pressing his lips against her forehead for a moment. Then he shifted away from her, "Alright, come on. Into the car. It's too cold for you to be standing out here like this."

* * *

Jason made his way from the kitchen to the living room, shaking the large red bowl in his hand as he peered into in search of green m&ms. He'd dumped several packages of m&ms into the trail mix he'd made, but it was starting to look like he'd managed to only use packages without any green in them.

As he walked, he said, "Did you figure out what you want to watch yet?"

"No, but I narrowed it down. I figured you can just pick from what I found," Stephanie answered.

"Alright." Looking away from the bowl, frown still settled on his face, he glanced up at her. Stephanie was sitting up on the couch, wearing a large red tank top with Mickey Mouse on it and a pair of fuzzy black pajama pants. Jason had brushed her hair for her when she'd gotten out of the shower earlier, pulling the wet curls up once he'd gotten the knots out of it. Though Jason had told her to make herself comfortable in his absence, Stephanie was sitting on the edge of the couch, making it clear that he'd been waiting for him to come back and settle down before finding a spot for their movie night. "What am I choosing from?"

"Hitch, Zombieland, or Dough."

"Those movies are all radically different."

"I like variety." She wiggled a bit before reaching behind her, patting the couch. "Come sit down so I can lay on you."

"Oh, I see. You're using me for my body."

"Yeah. I would appreciate if you would come over here and be a good boy-toy."

Jason let out a loud, huffing laugh. "Alright."

He made his way across the room, setting the bowl of snacks on the coffee table before sitting down. It took him a moment to orient himself, leaning his back against the arm of the couch and then swinging his legs behind Stephanie's back, but once he was done Stephanie moved as well. She crawled between his legs, settling herself in the V between them and leaning against his chest. She plucked the snack bowl from the table, setting it down on her legs, so that he could let his arms wrap comfortably around her,

"Comfy?" he asked, letting his fingers spread open on her bump. Jason knew that he touched it a lot, liked to put his hand there and know that his daughter was growing beneath his palm, and Stephanie usually indulged him, letting him touch without mentioning it. He supposed it helped that he was the Princess' father, not just some random person asking to touch Stephanie in a place where she was most vulnerable.

"Yup." She had brought the remote with her when she laid down. Now she asked him, "Okay, so? Which movie do you want to watch?"

Jason took a second to consider the choices before saying, "I'm feeling Zombieland."

 

 

 

 **week thirty-five:** the clock ticking down

  
"I don't understand how installing a car-seat is this difficult," Jason said. Even sitting on the apartment steps a few feet away from him, Stephanie could hear the growl in his voice. She didn't bother looking at him, though, focusing instead on the notepad in her lap.

The baby wasn't due for a few more weeks, but it wasn't as though due dates were an exact science. Stephanie could go into labor any day now and they wanted to be sure they were ready. For Stephanie that meant putting together her labor bag. For Jason it meant making sure things were ready so he wouldn't have to leave the hospital until Stephanie and the baby could.

"Should I pack a few books?" Stephanie wondered aloud. "It wasn't on the checklist I looked at, but it might help kill sometime right?"

"For me, sure. But I don't think you're going to be able to concentrate on reading when you're having labor pains."

"Good point. It's probably better to stick with movies and music." She jotted down the titles of a few of her favorite movies. They had subscriptions to most streaming services since they watched a lot of movies, separately and together, but there was a different vibe that came with plucking a DVD off their shelf and putting it in her laptop. It was the sort of feeling that she thought would be comforting when dealing with the pain of labor. Especially when she could combine it with lying in a bed with Jason tucked against her side, body warm and comforting even as she groaned in pain. "We'll put the extra phone chargers in the bag too. Then some chapstick, strawberry or something equally good."

"Nothing is as good as strawberry."

"You aren't wrong." Stephanie looked over the list she had, the things she had written down earlier as well as what she had added while they were talking. "Okay, I think I have everything on here that I'm going to need."

"Alright. We'll pack what we can when we get inside and then we'll set the rest on the table with the bag so we don't forget to grab it." Jason let out a loud groan before adding, "As soon as I figure out how to install this fucking carseat!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello guys! We are so close to having a baby!! Just one (maybe two) more chapters.
> 
> 2) For anyone curious [here](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ef/c4/b4/efc4b47f10428e657be3fc2bec44e22e.jpg) is a visual of the nursery!
> 
> 3) I just realized it's been almost two months since I updated this? I'm sorry about that. I got wrapped up in some one-shots and short stuff that I wanted to write. 
> 
> 4) Also as a note for anyone confused: even though this chapter is called month 9, Stephanie has only JUST started her ninth month at the end of the chapter. Hence why there's still a little bit before the baby comes.


	9. Month Ten

**week thirty-six:** forgiveness has to be given

  
"Maybe we've been making this entire thing too complicated," Jason said. He was standing in front of the stove, stirring the pot of bean soup that he was making for dinner. Stephanie was at the island behind him, books spread out so she could study for the test she was meant to be taking in her online classes while also flipping through a book of baby names.

"How so?"

"Well, we've been rejecting a lot the simple names. Maybe we should consider them."

Stephanie hummed a little bit. "I thought we didn't want her to have a name like ours? You know, where she's just one of like six in her class?"

"I don't, but we could probably find a simple name in literature that isn't as common as Jason or Stephanie," he said.

"Like what?"

"Margaret, Josephine, Elizabeth, or Amy?"

"Little Women?" Jason nodded a bit in agreement as he reached out for the chili powder. Spice wasn't settling well with Stephanie recently so he'd need to be careful how much he added, but they both enjoyed spicy foods too much to give them up. They couldn't burn their tongues on them the way they enjoyed, but a little kick was better than none in both of their minds. "Elizabeth and Amy both seem too common. Not as much as our names, but she'd probably meet more than a few girls with the same name as her. And Margaret is an old woman's name. I don't like the idea of talking about my two year old and people thinking I'm talking about my grandmother."

"Josephine?"

"It's not bad," Stephanie said. Jason heard the steady tap-tap-tap of her pencil hitting one of her books. "We can put that one on the considerations list."

"Cordelia, Bianca, Audrey?" Jason suggested.

"King Lear, Taming of the Shrew, and....?"

"As You Like It. One of the comedies."

"Ah." Stephanie was quiet for a moment before saying, "Bianca is nice. Shakespeare for you. And 10 Things I Hate About You is based on Taming of the Shrew, so it's also modern for me."

"Considerations list?"

"Yup." There was the scratching of a pencil jotting something down before Stephanie spoke again, "Although, I'm still not sure anything is going to come from the considerations list? I feel like if we were actually going to use any of those names than we would know by now. It seems like they would have spoken to us more."

"Maybe, but I also don't think we need to dismiss them outright. Sometimes a name comes to you right away and sometimes you have to think about it." Curious, he looked over his shoulder at her. "Do you know why you're mother named you Stephanie?"

Stephanie's lips turned down, a frown settling. Jason felt a hint of regret for bringing up something that upset her. He wondered what it was about her name that put that expression on her face.

"My father named me, not my mother," Stephanie said. "He had a brother name Stephan who died when he was young. They agreed to name me Stephanie in his memory."

"Ah...." He was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out what to say next. "I don't know which of my parents chose my name or why. Bruce told me one, though, that if he had been the one to name me than he would have chosen Jason for the Argonaut." There was something painful about thinking about that conversation, about remembering the good days with Bruce and how things between them had fallen apart. But he felt that it was a good thing to share this with Stephanie. Not to compare their pain or imply his daddy issues were more important than hers, but to make sure she knew he understood.

"It's a good name," she told him.

"So is Stephanie," he replied. "And whatever name we give the little princess will be a good name too."

* * *

Jason took a deep breath when he spotted Alfred through the crowd of diners already in the restaurant. The elder man was sitting already, looking down at the menu. Part of Jason wondered if that was because Alfred had been that confident in Jason coming or if he had sat down hoping for things to work out.

"Alfred," Jason said as he drew close.

He looked up from the menu. His expression softened as he saw Jason come towards him, fondness taking over the idle curiosity with which he had been scanning the menu. "Master Jason. I'm glad you came today."

"I wouldn't skip lunch with you." No matter how upset Jason was with Alfred, he respected the man far too much to make plans with him and then purposefully blow him off. It was the sort of shitty thing that Jason was likely to do to someone, but not to Alfred. As he moved around the table to the other chair, he said, "I want to apologize too. I shouldn't have snapped at you the way I did, much less have walked out on you."

"You have nothing to apologize for, my boy." When Jason was sat down, Alfred reached across the table to put his hand on his bicep. "If either of us should say sorry, it is me. I knew how you felt about your father knowing what you were doing right now. And while I care for your father a great deal, I also care for you a great deal. I should have respected your wishes instead of betraying your trust. I acted as though his feelings mattered more, even though that is not the case. Neither you or your father are more important to me than the other."

The part of Jason that was still that thirteen year old kid in awe of everything Alfred and Bruce gave him wanted to tell Alfred he didn't have to apologize. It felt wrong for someone who had given him as much as Alfred had given him to be apologizing. But Alfred had hurt Jason by telling Bruce things that he didn't want him know and one of the things that Alfred had worked hard to teach Jason throughout his time with him was that Jason's feelings were valid, that he was allowed to have them, that whatever he felt mattered just as much as what anyone else felt.

"Thank you for apologizing," Jason said.

"I would like to assure you that from now on, I will not tell your father anything that you do not explicitly tell me I can say." Alfred continued, "However, I would like permission to at least let him know how you are doing. Not to tell him what has been going on in your life, but to at least let him know that you are safe and happy when he asks."

Jason didn't really want Bruce knowing anything about him, but he didn't want to drive a wedge between Alfred and Bruce either.

"Okay," Jason agreed, nodding a little bit. "But no details, okay? And nothing else about the baby."

"Alright." Alfred squeezed Jason's hand, movement which showed both his support of Jason's decision and how thankful he was for Jason letting him have this. As he pulled back, he said, "Now, why don't we talk about the baby? I'd like to know how things have been since we last spoke."

 

 

 

 **week thirty-seven:**  mothers

  
Jason had only just walked in the door, bag of milk and butter hanging from his fingers, when he heard a loud, frustrated groan.

"Everything okay in here?" he called out as he toed his shoes off. There had been a slight spike of worry when he'd first heard the groan, but he knew that Stephanie wasn't in any kind of danger. It was the kind of thing she did when she was annoyed or frustrated, not when she was hurt or in pain.

"No."

Making his way into the main room of the apartment, Jason found Stephanie laying on the couch. She had a notebook balanced on her stomach and a textbook resting open over her face.

"Homework trouble?" Jason asked.

"It's a good thing that whoever invented math is dead already, because if they weren't I would have to get up and go kill them myself."

Jason hummed a little bit, peering at her textbook. She had been struggling with calculus already, but it seemed that it had only gotten tougher now that she had switched to online lessons. There were plenty of instructions, but he got the feeling that Stephanie was more of a visual and auditory learner.

"I could try and help you," he offered.

There was a moment before Stephanie shifted, the book slipping down her face so she could peer at him, "I thought you didn't finish high school?"

"I didn't," he said. Dying at fifteen had really put a damper on his education, but - "I spent a while training in England. I've got five A-Levels." Talia had been insistent on it. She'd said that no son of hers was going to fail to graduate in some way.

Jason felt a pang in his heart as he thought about it. He'd been so distracted with Stephanie that he hadn't really had time recently to think about Talia, to think about the women who had been his mother in a way that none of the other women in his life had been. Catherine had tried, but she had been too focused on getting her fix. Sheila hadn't wanted him.

Talia had taken him in of her own volition, pushed him and done her best to help him despite the danger it put her in. She had favored Damian, yes, but Jason had always gotten the impression that was more because Damian was younger.

They hadn't spoken since Jason had come back to Gotham. Talia and Jason had agreed that cutting ties was best for all of them, the best way to keep Talia safe from her father and Damian safe from his.

He wondered if she knew about the baby. He was almost certain she did, he knew that she kept tabs on him, but there was a small part of him that wished he could have been the one to tell her. It felt like the type of thing a mother was supposed to hear from her son.

"One of those A-Levels in Calculus?"

"No," he said, shaking his head a bit. "But one of them is in business and there's a bit of calculus involved in that. I'm not sure if it's the right stuff, but I can at least give it a try."

Stephanie hummed a bit before saying, "That's better than nothing. Get over here."

Talia had always told him that he could do whatever he wanted, that he could choose to pursue vengeance or live his life as a normal boy in his twenties.

As he moved to join Stephanie on the couch, he wondered if Talia approved of the path he'd taken.

* * *

"Oh! Do you want help cooking, Jason?"

"What?" Surprised by the offer, Jason looked away from the stir-fry he was cooking and over his shoulder. Crystal was standing in the doorway, watching Jason move around the kitchen. Unable to help himself given what he knew of Stephanie's cooking abilities he found himself saying, "You know how to cook?"

They had picked Crystal up from the rehab facility earlier that day. Stephanie had spent most of the day with her mother as she got her settled in the apartment. Jason wouldn't have been upset about it regardless of how expected it was, but it was also entirely unsurprising that Stephanie had spent the day attached to her mother's side. He knew how desperate Stephanie was to talk to her mom for an extended time, to speak to her not just about the baby but also about her life currently.

He was relieved when Crystal laughed instead of getting offended by his question.

"Given what Stephanie has told me during her visits, I don't think I cook as well as you," she said, "but I'm pretty decent."

"I'm not exactly a five star chef," Jason said, feeling a little embarrassed. "Steph's just easily impressed since she doesn't know how to make anything other than waffles."

"You might not be a five star chef, but I don't think you need to be so modest about your skill. If there's one think my daughter loves, it's food. She would never praise your cooking the way she does if it wasn't fantastic."

Feeling a blush rise to his cheeks, Jason really wasn't used to taking compliments much less compliments that were about his skills rather than his ass-kicking abilities or muscles, he turned back to the food in front of him. At least than he could pretend the heat in his cheeks was just from the steam rising out of the pan.

"Thank you for offering to help," he said, "but I'm making stir-fry. I've already chopped everything and put it all in the pan. It's really just a matter of cooking it, so there isn't really anything I need help with."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup," Jason said. "It'll be done pretty soon. You should go spend some time with Stephanie."

There was a small moment before Crystal said, "Alright." Then she added, "I'm happy to spend time with her against, but I would like to spend some time with you while I'm here as well. My daughter is in love with you. And even if she wasn't, you're my granddaughter's father. We're going to be in each other's lives for a very long time. I think it'll be a lot easier if we get to know each other."

Jason didn't hesitate to tell her, "I'd like that."

They had spoken before when Jason went with Stephanie to visit Crystal, but Jason had preferred to sit in the background during those visits so that Stephanie could talk to her mother without much interruption. Still, the brief periods that they had spent talking to each other had led to Jason developing a deep respect for her. Her husband had put her through a lot. And though she had eventually fallen into alcoholism to cope with it, Jason had heard from Stephanie just how much Crystal had dealt with before she reached that point and he thought it demonstrated an incredible strength on her part. Not to mention the fact that she had seen her daughter pregnant, seen that and understood how desperately needed her, and decided to undertake the immense challenging of sobering up was something that he respected. Especially as someone whose own mother hadn't found the will to clean up for his sake.

He didn't think he'd mind having someone with Crystal's courage and backbone in his life.

 

 

 

 **week thirty-eight:** the conversations surrounding you

  
"Mama?" Stephanie said as she peered into the living room. The apartment was mostly dark, save for the blinking light on the cable box below the TV.

Crystal was lying down on the couch, illuminated by the only other light in the apartment - a small booklight on the novel she was reading. She shifted at the sound of Stephanie's voice.

"Is everything alright, sweetheart?" she asked. There was a small, worried frown on her lips.

"Mm yeah." Stephanie crossed the room. The floor was cold against her bare feet. The second Stephanie reached the couch, she settled down on it and pulled her legs up with her. She didn't hesitate to tuck herself into her mother's side and her mother didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling Stephanie closer. Stephanie found herself leaning into the hold, burrowing as close to her mother as she could. It felt nice to curl up with her mom after so much time apart. "I just couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake Jay up, so I thought I'd come see if you were still awake."

"Baby keeping you up?"

"Yup." Resting her hands on the curve of her stomach, Stephanie said, "I don't think there's any comfortable sleeping positions for women as pregnant as I am."

"You aren't wrong," Crystal agreed. She ran her fingers through Stephanie's hair, fingers gentle against the blonde trusses. Her voice was soft as she said, "I am so proud of you, you know?"

"You are?"

"I can't say I ever wanted you to be a mother this young," she said. "But given that you are, I am incredibly proud of rising to this the way you are. I wouldn't have been disappointed in you for having an abortion or giving the baby up for adoption, but I am proud of you for undertaking such a big challenge and I'm proud of you for finding a way to do that without sacrificing your education. And while I wish you hadn't had to, I am so proud of you for managing to figure all of this without me." She leaned over to press her lips against Stephanie's temple. "I am so, so proud of you."

Stephanie felt a little bit like crying as she clutched at her mother.

It wasn't like she had thought her mother hated her or was disappointed with her, not given all the support her mother had given her despite Crystal's own struggles, but thinking nothing was wrong was different than _knowing_  that her mother was proud of her.

"I love you Mama," she said.

"I love you too, Stephie."

* * *

"It's weird," Stephanie said.

Jason and Stephanie had walked to the Thai restaurant near the apartment to grab dinner for them and Crystal. It had been a good excuse for the two of them to spend some time together. They were both happy to have Crystal around, but it was nice when it was just the two of them as well.

Jason had peering inside the bags in his hands, trying to make sure all of their food was there, but now he glanced up at Stephanie. "What is?"

"That she's going to be here soon," Stephanie said. She rested her hands on her stomach, looking down at the curve of it as she did. "I knew it was going to happen, you know? But I've been pregnant and wondering about her for so long that now I'm a little thrown by the idea that she'd actually going to be here."

Jason hadn't thought about that before, but considering Stephanie's words he found himself nodding, "Yeah." It was even stranger to think that Jason had never known a not-pregnant Stephanie. She hadn't been showing or anything when they'd first met, but their friendship and eventual relationship had started a few weeks into Stephanie's pregnancy. Thinking about how close they were to the due date, Jason admitted, "I'm excited though."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Shifting the food bags around in his arms, he reached out and grabbed her hand. "It's been months of just talking about her, yeah, but it's also been months of being excited to meet her. Months of waiting to see what she'll look like and what she'll be like. And I'm excited to finally get the answer to those questions."

Stephanie squeezed her hand. "Me too."

"That being said," Jason said, "it might be nice to think about the things she'll do while calling her something other than 'baby girl' or 'princess.' I mean I can't really imagine having a President called Princess Todd."

"President, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Jason said. "With your brain and my charm? What else would she be?"

 

 

 

 **week thirty-nine:** the moment

  
"Jason, are you _sure_  there's nothing I could do to help you?" Crystal asked. Jason, Crystal, and Stephanie were all gathered together in the kitchen. The ladies were sitting together at the island while Jason worked on cooking the chicken for the wraps they were having for dinner. They'd been chatting casually as he cooked and Stephanie's phone sat on the counter by her arm, playing some music from her Spotify. "Maybe I could get the vegetables and shells out?"

He hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to ask Crystal to help when she was a guest in the apartment, before nodding a little. "It would actually help if you could grab the lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and shells."

"That's absolutely no problem." There was a scrapping sound as she pushed the stool she was sat on back before making her way to the refrigerator. "You guys keep all of that in the drawers?"

"Everything except the shells," Jason told her. "Those should be on the bottom shelf."

"Jay, I can't believe your putting my mom to work already," Stephanie said. The light, teasing tone in her words was enough to keep Jason from feeling bad about it. As she spoke, the pop song that had been playing faded and the first notes of what Jason recognized as 'Ophelia' by the Lumineers flowed from the speakers. He found himself humming along as he worked, enjoying the song. "We're supposed to wait to do that until after the princess is here."

"Yeah, well, given how soon she's going to be here, I think it's perfectly acceptable to put your mom to work now."

"I don't mind helping," Crystal assured. As she bent down to grab the vegetables from the drawers they kept them in, she added, "I do mind that the baby is expected any day now and you two still haven't settled on a name for her. At this rate, she's going to be born and you'll end up putting the first thing you can think of on the birth certificate."

"No," Stephanie said. "I know what her name is going to be."

"You do?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Ophelia." There was a strange tone in her voice that had Jason turning to look at her as they spoke. She was shifting on her stool, a complicated look on her face, but she didn't look distressed exactly. "We wanted a Shakespeare name for you, right? And something modern for me?" Jason hummed in agreement. "Well, there we go. Named for a Shakespeare character and the really great song that my water broke during."

Jason thought about it for a moment, considering.

He'd liked a few of the other names that they'd considered but none of them had resonated with him quite right.

Ophelia, though.... Ophelia felt good.

He was just about to tell Stephanie that he liked the name when her words caught up with him.

"I'm sorry," he said, "did you say that your water broke listening to this song?"

"Well, I didn't just pee my pants," Stephanie said. "So yeah, my water broke while listening to this song. Around the time it hit the bridge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Heyo! I'm sorry this chapter took so long! Hopefully it was worth the wait, though we haven't quite gotten to the moment everyone has been waiting for!
> 
> 2) The week thirty-eight sections are short compared to other sections in this fic. Hopefully they were still enjoyable? 
> 
> 3) It seems like a water breaking can happen in a lot of different ways? its not always gushing and very obvious like in the movies, but it can be for some women? I tried to strike a realistic but also dramatic enough balance in this fic.


	10. Birth Day

"Okay," Jason said. Stephanie could practically hear the panic in his voice as she gripped his arm, taking careful steps across the hospital lobby. Jason had tried to get her to wait in the car while he went in to get a wheelchair, but Stephanie had insisted on at least walking into the hospital on her own. She was going to be spending enough time in bed over the next few days. "We made it to the hospital. Nothing is going to go wrong now."

"Nothing was going to go wrong before," Stephanie said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "It's going to be hours before this baby comes out of me."

"This is Gotham. We could've gotten stuck in traffic or a villain attack or-"

"Yeah and we still probably would have reached the hospital before this baby comes out."

"You probably aren't wrong," Crystal said, walking on Stephanie's other side. She had the hospital bag that Stephanie had packed last week slung across her shoulder. While Jason had been panicking at the apartment, Crystal had made sure to grab the things they'd kept out - like chargers and electronics - and put them away as well. "But this is your first child. I understand wanting to be cautious."

"He's not being cautious," Stephanie said. "He's being absurd."

"He's been absurd and overprotective your entire pregnancy," Crystal said. Smiling a little, she pointed out, "And you like that he cares this much."

"You two know I'm right here, yeah?" Jason said. He might have been a little annoyed, but mostly his tone was affectionate. There was still a level of panic buried under the affection as well. Stephanie thought it was a little absurd given that _she_  was the one in labor. If anyone had a right to be panicking, it was her. "I can hear you making fun of me."

"Oh we're well aware," Stephanie said. "It wouldn't be nearly as fun if you weren't."

Jason shot her a look, but it was wiped away quickly as another contraction hit and Stephanie's face twisted with the discomfort of it. The panic swept over his features, wiping away the amusement that's settled during their discussion. "Oh, god. Okay. We've really got to get you checked in."

"We will," Crystal said, her voice calm and amused. "But why don't you go outside to call your grandfather while I take care of that? I'll let you know what room they get her settled in and you can meet us there once it's all set."

"Are you sure? Because I can-"

"It only takes one person to check someone into a hospital, Jay," Stephanie interrupted. Straightening up, she moved closer to her mother. Anticipating it, Crystal shifted the bags in time to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Go outside and call Alfred. I'll be fine without you hovering." When Jason still didn't move, Stephanie reached out to place her hand on his bicep and pushed. " _Go_."

* * *

Jason collapsed onto the curb.

He knew he was being absurd. Gotham was a terrible place, but it was still an American city and he recognized that just living where they lived meant that Stephanie and the baby were much more likely to come out of this okay. And getting Stephanie to the hospital meant that they were that much safer. Even while still recovering from the cataclysm, Gotham's hospitals were better equipped than a lot of other places around the world.

Knowing that didn't stop the fear pounding through him, though.

Knowing that Stephanie was likely to be okay didn't stop him from worrying that she wouldn't, knowing that their daughter would likely be born without any complications didn't stop him from worrying that something would happen to her, knowing that they were both far more likely to be okay than not didn't mean that he wasn't still afraid he would lose them.

Hands shaking a bit, Jason reached the pocket of the jacket he'd thrown on. He pulled out the packet of cigarettes, his lighter, and his phone.

It'd been a while since he'd smoked, not wanting to do it around Stephanie, but he found himself desperate for the stability that it used to bring to him.

He pulled one of the cigarettes out and lit it, balancing it between his lips before turning his attention to his phone.

It took him a moment to thumb in the password and bring up his contacts, shaky fingers pressing at the wrong parts of the screen. He found himself regretting putting Alfred in his phone as 'the coolest person you know' instead of leaving him as Alfred. He'd done it to fuck with Stephanie, who had made it her own contact until Jason made it Alfred's and changed Stephanie's to 'Baby Mama', but now he wished he'd left him at the top of the list.

Once he dialed, Jason shifted so he could hold his phone up to his ear with his shoulder. It freed his dominate hand up for his cigarette.

He took a few drags as he listened to the ringing.

He realized pretty quickly that Alfred wasn't going to answer the call.

"Fuck," he hissed out-loud. The longer he sat here, smoking as he watched traffic go by on the busy street in front of him and thought about Stephanie inside of the hospital bearing the pain of bringing their child into the world, the more he realized how desperately he wanted someone here with him. Crystal was great, but she wasn't _his_. She might be one day, she certainly seemed to want them to be family for the sake of Stephanie and the baby, but she wasn't yet. And he so desperately wanted someone who could be here for him, who could talk to him and calm him down and remind him of all the things he knew logically. He so desperately wanted Alfred or Talia. "Fuck!"

He must have missed the beep in his panic because he heard Alfred's voice on the other side of the phone, saying, "Hello, you've reached Alfred Pennyworth. Leave a message with your name, contact information, and the purpose of your call. I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you."

There were two beeps.

"Hey, Alf," Jason said. He hoped, desperately, that Alfred would get the phone call in the next couple of hours. There was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be able to last the entirety of Stephanie's labor without Alfred. Especially not once a few hours had passed and they reached the point of Stephanie pushing. "I was just calling to tell you that Steph went into labor. I'm at the hospital with her and her mom. At um...Gotham Metro, not General." He paused for a moment before saying, "I would...really appreciate it if you could come down. I'd just-" He hated the way his voice cracked as he spoke. "I'd really like to have you here." Knowing his time was probably coming to a close, Jason took a deep breath before saying, "Yeah so...that's all I have to say. Hopefully I'll see you later. Bye."

He knew he probably should have gone inside once he finished, gone to find Stephanie and Crystal, but he found himself placing his phone in his pocket and then stretching his legs out to make himself more comfortable.

Hopefully a few more minutes in the cool air would help him calm down and make the waiting a little easier. 

* * *

Stephanie was looking at her tablet, one of the drawing programs pulled up so she could doodle on it, when she heard a soft knocking on the door. She wondered who it would be. Her mother had gone to find some food, they hadn't gotten the chance to eat the tacos Jason had been making given Stephanie's water breaking, so she wasn't in the room, but Stephanie didn't think her mother would knock before coming back in. The nurses might have knocked, but one of them had been in her room just before her mother left.

She looked up just time to see Jason poking his head in.

"Can I come in? Or do you want me to go outside again?" he asked.

"You can come in." Stephanie looked back down at the tablet, closing out of the programs she had opened. Once she did, she set it down on her stomach and focused on Jason as he settled into the chair by her bed. "You were gone for an hour."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," Jason said. He reached one of his hands out, palm up. Stephanie reached for him immediately. She put her hand in his and twined their fingers together. "I didn't want to come back here and make this entire thing worse for you by hovering. So I smoked a few cigarettes, but I was still feeling a little jittery so I went for a walk. I ended up going a little further than I meant to and it took me a bit to get back here."

Stephanie hummed a little bit. She would have liked to have him here with her, but she understood. She wasn't as bad as he was, but it wasn't as though she wasn't feeling a panicked and afraid herself. It was just that the pain of the contractions and the comfort of her mother by her side was keeping her from focusing on it the way she knew Jason was.

"Did you call Alfred?" she asked.

"Yeah, but he didn't answer. I left a message for him, though. Hopefully he'll get it before the princess gets here."

"That'd be nice." Stephanie squeezed his hand. "You should come up on the bed with me. We can watch a movie."

"Is that a good idea? I don't want you to be uncomfortable or anything."

"I'm pretty sure cuddling is just going to make me more comfortable." She tugged on him. "Come on. Get up here."

"Okay, okay," Jason said, a small smile on his lips as he moved to oblige her. Once he had climbed up with her, there was some shifting as they both tried to find the most comfortable position. When they were comfy, Jason asked, "Do you know what you want to watch?"

"The Princess Bride sounds nice," Stephanie said. "Or maybe Stardust. That's on Netflix isn't it?"

"I think so, yeah." He reached for the tablet, they'd moved it onto the mattress during all the shuffling. "I'm pretty sure The Princess Bride isn't. But I'm sure there's another fantasy epic on here if Stardust isn't anymore."

* * *

The nurse hummed, a quiet sound but one that drew Jason's attention immediately.

"Is everything okay?" Crystal asked. When the nurse had come in to check on Stephanie, Jason had moved to the chair while Crystal stood and went to Stephanie's side. She liked having her hand held through the awkward process of a stranger checking how dilated she was.

"Yup," the nurse said. Drawing things back down over Stephanie, she added, "In fact, I think you're just about ready to start pushing."

"Really?" Stephanie said. The past few hours had put a toll on her. Her face was flushed red in places, but pale in others. Her hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. They'd watched a few more movies after finishing Stardust, but they hadn't started another because the contractions had been getting so close together and the pain so bad that Stephanie was having trouble concentrating.

"Yup. I'm going to go get Doctor Shepherd so she can come assess and decide for sure, but you'll definitely be pushing soon."

"Oh thank god." Jason resisted the urge to laugh as Stephanie flopped back against the pillows on her bed. Along with the ones that the hospital had given her, Stephanie had made Jason bring most of the ones from their bed at home. Jason had laughed at the time, but now he was glad that they were giving her at least a little bit of comfort. "I am so ready for this girl to get out of me."

Crystal laughed a little bit. She reached up, smoothing her hand against Stephanie's forehead and brushing some of her hair away. "Now you know how I feel."

"I'm sorry I was such a pain Mama."

"I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world," Crystal told her, leaning forward to place a kiss against Stephanie's temple. Stephanie shifted, leaning into the press of her mother's lips. There was something about the gesture that made Jason feel a bit like he was intruding on something sacred, like this was a moment between mother and daughter that wasn't for him to see. "Just like you wouldn't trade her."

"Doesn't mean I'm not really excited for her to get out of me." Stephanie turned away from her mother, putting her cheek against the pillow and looking at Jason. "How are you feeling?"

"Right now?" Stephanie hummed, nodding a little bit. "Starting to feel the panic coming back, but I figure I'm probably not going to really lose it until they kick me out of the room."

"Yeah, you're just going to have to deal with that."

"I know," Jason said.

Stephanie had been adamant since their very first conversation about her birthing plan that Jason was absolutely not going to be in the room. Jason had tried to get her to budge back before they'd known that Crystal was going to be out of rehab for the birth. He didn't particularly mind if Stephanie wanted him with her during the birthing, understood why the idea made her so uncomfortable and understood that it was Stephanie's body as well as her choice to make, but he hadn't wanted her to be alone. Knowing that Crystal was going to be around, though, had been enough for Jason to stop arguing.

"But," he said, speaking up again, "I'm starting to get pretty excited too. I can't wait to meet her."

"Yeah," Stephanie said, voice soft and sweet. "Me either."

* * *

Jason sat in the waiting room, his elbows balanced on bouncing knees and his jaw resting on his palms.

He'd been kicked out of Stephanie's room a while ago as she transitioned into the second phase of labor. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting here already, but it felt like it had been ages already. And he knew that there was a possibility of him being out here much longer, the doctor has warned them all that sometimes new mothers pushed for an hour or longer.

Jason thought he was probably going to go crazy if he waited out here for that long.

"Master Jason!" the shout came from someone familiar, but the voice was far more panicked and frantic than Jason had heard it before. Jason's head snapped up, watching as Alfred walked briskly across the room to reach him. He didn't think he'd ever seen Alfred hurrying like this. "I apologize for being late, my dear boy. I was with your father at a charity function and neglected to check my phone."

"It's okay," Jason said. He pushed himself to his feet at Alfred drew close to him. "I know you like to catch up with the drivers that are at those events."

"Yes, but you are infinitely more important to me than my friends." He reached out once they were near each other, wrapping his hands around Jason's biceps. "How is Miss Brown?"

"She was fine last time I saw her. They kicked me out a while ago so she could start pushing. I'm not sure how long I've been waiting."

"And you?" Alfred asked.

"I don't know," Jason admitted. "All I can think about is how worried I am about Steph and the baby."

"That is perfectly reasonable." He squeezed Jason's arms for a moment before letting go. Gesturing towards the seat Jason had vacated, he said, "You should sit back down. It may be a while before we hear anything."

"You'll stay?" Jason's voice was quiet, hopeful. He knew that Alfred likely wouldn't leave after coming all of this way, but he wanted to make sure. He was so sick of sitting here, along and stewing in worst case scenarios.

"Of course, I will," Alfred told him. He lowered himself down into the chair next to Jason's, guiding Jason down as he did. "I want to be here for you, my boy. And, of course, I wouldn't mind the chance to meet your daughter once she is born."

"I think she'd like to meet her great-grandfather."

Alfred looked at him, eyes soft and shining with an emotion that Jason couldn't quite put his finger on. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get the words out they were interrupted by someone else rushing up to them.

"Alfred, I got the car parked," the intruder said as he strolled up. As he came to a stop in front of them, he said, "You must be Alfred's friend? I'm sorry for intruding. Alfred was frantic when he got your phone call, though, and I thought it might be best if someone brought him over instead of him trying to drive here in his state."

Jason looked away from Alfred, meeting Dick Grayson's eyes.

He'd seen Dick since coming back from the dead, but never like this. He'd seen him in his Nightwing costume a few times back before meeting Stephanie had changed his plans from 'be the Red Hood to fuck up Batman' to 'be the Red Hood and don't do anything stupid enough to get killed'. He'd seen Dick out of the costume a few times, but only splashed across Gotham tabloids.

Dick had been pretty much full grown when Jason died, so there wasn't a whole lot of change in his features. He had put on a bit more muscle, but he was still thin and lithe rather than bulky like Jason or Bruce. Jason thought he was probably taller than Dick now, but not by more than a four or five inches. His hair was shorter than it had been when Jason was a child, but still longer than most men tended to keep theirs.

He was wearing a crisp dress shirt, white with bronze plaid running through it, that he'd rolled the sleeves up on and a tie colored with a solid bronze. His suit pants were a deep green-teal and he wore brown leather dress shoes. Jason supposed he had probably been at the same charity event as Bruce and Alfred. He'd likely offered to bring Alfred to the hospital in order to get out of it.

Dick was staring at Jason with wide, surprised blue eyes. He'd stretched a hand out towards Jason while apologizing, but now it hung limp between them.

"Jason?" Dick said, voice breathless and wondering.

"Master Jason, I do apologize for not asking before bringing your brother with me," Alfred said, before Jason could figure out what to say to Dick himself. "He insisted on driving me here once he heard that I needed to go to the hospital. He thought I might have crashed trying to get here too quickly."

In a way, his feelings towards Dick were more complicated than his feelings towards Bruce. It was easy to just hate Bruce for the things he had done. It wasn't as easy to hate Dick. He hadn't been the best big brother, caught up in his own problems with Bruce, but he _had been_ Jason's brother. When Bruce wasn't around, Dick had always been happy to let Jason tag along for milkshakes with Barbara or to sit around the manor playing video games while Alfred made lunch for all of them to share. It wasn't as though Dick had been involved in the events of Jason's death. Dick wasn't the leader of their group, it wasn't his responsibility to avenge Jason's death or his decision to put another boy in the Robin costume six months after Jason's death.

In another stroke of superb timing, Jason was kept from having to address the awkward family reunion in front of him by Crystal entering the waiting room.

"Crystal," he said, shooting up to his feet.

"Everything's fine," she assured him as she approached. There was a small, but radiant smile on her face. "In fact, I came to get you. If you want, there's time for you to come see them before they take the baby away to do some check ups."

"Baby?" he heard Dick echo. "There's a baby?"

"Master Dick, sit down. I'll explain things to you while your brother goes to meet his daughter."

"I'd like that," Jason told Crystal. "Please."

* * *

Stephanie had ignored the door opening, too occupied with the tiny bundle in her arms to care about the coming and going of hospital staff.

She didn't look up from her daughter until she heard Jason say, voice quiet and filled with awe, "This is her?"

"Yup." Stephanie forced herself to look away from the girl in her arms and over at him. She lifted her arms just a little bit to give him a better look. "Ophelia Catherine Todd-Brown."

She saw Jason freeze. There was a beat before he said, "Catherine?"

"Yeah. I thought you would like it." Stephanie knew that Jason's relationship with Catherine Todd was complicated, but she also knew that Jason loved her and cared for her in ways that Stephanie would never be able to understand. This small thing seemed like the least Stephanie could do to acknowledge Jason's connection to her.

"I do." He moved carefully, obviously not knowing how Stephanie was feeling and weary of hurting her, to press a kiss against Stephanie's hair. "I really do. Thank you."

Stephanie hummed a little bit, turning her face down to look at their daughter again. She was reluctant to let go of her, feeling torn between how desperately she wanted a nap and how desperately she wanted to never let go of the sleeping girl in her arms, but she knew that Jason deserved this too. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Can I?"

"Of course you can hold your daughter." Stephanie shifted towards him. "You know how to hold a baby?"

"You know I know how to hold a baby. You made fun of me for knowing half the staff we were taught in those baby classes we went to."

"True." Stephanie leaned down, pressing her lips against Ophelia's forehead, before finally turning to pass her to Jason.

Jason took Ophelia from Stephanie slowly, cautiously and like he was afraid that just the act of him touching her might harm her.

"Hi Ophelia," he murmured as he settled her in his arms. It had been months since Stephanie had doubted Jason's commitment to being a father, since Stephanie had considered the baby hers rather than theirs. But if any of those doubts had still existed, they would have been wiped away as she watched Jason look at their daughter. Because the look on Jason's face was one of complete awe and love for the little girl in his arms. "It is so good to finally meet you, princess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Lots of stuff in this chapter that you guys have been waiting for - like the birth of the princess and the appearance of a Bat! Not the one you were all most interested in, but hopefully one you at least enjoyed seeing? 
> 
> 2) I also understand that Stephanie goes to the hospital a bit earlier than necessary. Generally if you went super early I think the hospital might send you home until you dilate a bit more? I know a few people who that has happened to. I just choose to ignore that because Jason is overprotective and panick-y and he would absolutely freak. 
> 
> 3) [Here](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/cc/13/71cc13da2f8bc06323ef5a9d3be8f301.jpg) is Dick's suit for anyone interested! I just see Dick as the kind of guy who would prefer a suit that was a little less basic. 
> 
> 4) Catherine Todd was NOT a good mom, but the fact of the matter is that Jason did love her and, from everything we've seen, still does. 
> 
> 5) As a note, the next two chapters of this fic won't be actual chapters. They'll be interludes. I do think you'll all enjoy the content of them though :) It just gives me a little time to outline for the first year of little Miss Ophelia's life while filling in some questions you've all had and writing some scenes I want to write. 
> 
> 6) Also I feel like I should warn everyone - nothing about this fic from now on is going to be very accurate. If you're super attached for an accurate post-pregnancy recovery than I'm feeling like this probably won't be the baby!fic for you.


	11. Interlude: the heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature.

**Month Seven: end of week twenty-five**

Bruce sat at the kitchen table, his hands wrapped around a mug of steaming hot chocolate. Alfred sat across from him with a cup of the same drink for himself. Both were topped with an ample amount of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Drinking hot chocolate together was what they did in situations like this - when things were difficult and emotions were high. They drank the best hot chocolate in the world and spoke until their voices were hoarse, until everything had been worked out. It wasn't always immediate, didn't always happen right after the event that sparked it, but it always happened at some point.

It had started when Bruce's parents had died. Then they had drank together when Bruce told Alfred about Batman. Again when Dick had come into their lives, and then when Dick had pulled away from them. They had done it when Jason joined their family.

They'd had hot chocolate when Jason died.

And now they were having hot chocolate because Jason was alive.

"He looks so much like you now that I forgot for a moment that he wasn't yours by blood," Alfred said. He had been talking for a few minutes now, telling Bruce about his lunch with Jason. Bruce absorbed everything Alfred told him while staring down into the cup in his own hands. It was difficult to find the words to engage with Alfred. It only been a week since Alfred had brought him a story about running into the boy they had lost on the street with a DNA test to prove it. Bruce had denied it regardless of the DNA, believing it might have been faked, but then they had checked Jason's grave and found a casket that looked as though someone had clawed their way out. "He's taller than myself or Master Dick, but still a little shorter than you I think. He's been well taken care of, I think. He's much bigger than he was before. Poor Ms. Brown looked very small next to him."

The name pinged something in Bruce's brain, poked at the part of him that kept careful track of his son's friends and associates so he could watch over them. Given the fog of surprise over his thoughts, though, he found that he couldn't quite remember who she was or why he knew her.

He didn't like that, didn't like that his son was so far out of his reach and associating with someone that Bruce knew but couldn't remember.

"Ms. Brown?" he said, glancing up at Alfred.

"Stephanie Brown. The young lady in the Spoiler costume," Alfred said. Bruce felt a flash of surprise. He knew that Spoiler and Robin had fallen out recently, though Tim hadn't told him why. It was surprising to hear her name coming up again, this time in conjunction with Jason instead. Alfred seemed to debate for a moment before saying, "She came to lunch with Jason and I. Apparently, she is just under seven months pregnant with a child they will be raising together."

Bruce felt a sharper flash of surprise. He didn't miss the way that Alfred had spoken about the child, but Bruce knew better than most that it was not necessarily blood that bound a father and his children.

"Jason is having a child?"

"Yes. A daughter." Alfred's expression had been carefully controlled, but now a small smile pulled at his lips. "Master Jason is quite pleased about it. Ms. Brown told me that he's extremely protective of them."

"Jason is having a daughter..." Bruce murmured. Jason had died at fifteen. Bruce had thought plenty of times about the things that Jason had never gotten to do, but his son's age meant that he had focused on the things that Jason had missed out on at that stage in his life. Jason had never gotten to have a sweet sixteen, had never gotten to experience his first love, had never gotten to go to prom, had never gotten to graduate college. Bruce hadn't thought before about how Jason had never gotten to get engaged or have a wedding. He hadn't thought before about how dying at fifteen meant that Jason, who cared for his family with a ferocious intensity, had never gotten to experience fatherhood. "I'm going to have a granddaughter."

"Yes sir." There was a long moment, Alfred seeming to let Bruce revel in that information before speaking again, "As eager as I'm sure you are to see Master Jason and be in the life of the new little miss, however, I believe it would be prudent to let me handle him for now."

"What?" Every inch of his being rebelled against the idea, every single part of him loving to track down the son who he had been blessed enough to get back. "Why?"

"Jason came back to life, but instead of seeking us out immediately he began his own life," Alfred said. "I did not push him on that subject at lunch since it was our first meeting. However, I think it is important to recognize that there are very few things which would cause that type of action and react accordingly so that we do not lose him."

Bruce wanted to shoot the idea down, but he could see the sense in Alfred's logic. He desperately wanted to see his son, to hold the boy who he lost in his arms and never let him go again, but the idea of Jason coming back to life only for Bruce to lose him for a different reason was too much to bare.

"Okay," Bruce said, quietly. A small piece of him felt broken by the decision, but he held onto the idea that this was so that one day he could have his son with him again. He sighed before adding, "We should keep this from Dick for now. He's likely to charge in and demand Jason's attention if he knows."

"I quite agree, Master Bruce. For now at least, this should stay between us."

* * *

**Month Seven: early week twenty-eight**

Bruce walked into the manor, shaking his head to get some of the snow to out of his hair. The bags in his hands crinkled with the movement of his body, bumping against each other.

"Welcome back, Master Bruce," Alfred said.

"Thank you," Bruce said. Alfred approached him, reaching out to take the bags from Bruce's hand. Once he had a good grip on them, Bruce stepped back to begin unbuttoning his coat. "I bought a few more gifts for the baby. I was hoping you wouldn't mind passing them onto Jason and Stephanie."

"Of course not." Bruce could hear the amusement in his voice. He chose to ignore it.

He knew he was, maybe, going a little overboard with the presents for Jason's daughter. He had spent plenty on Dick and Tim - for Dick he had donated a sizable amount of money to Haley's circus as well as buying a high price car that his eldest had been asking for while he was working on converting one of the spare rooms into a dark room for Tim on top of buying several electronics that his youngest had asked for - but the two of them also had plenty of things already. His granddaughter was new to the world and Bruce had never gotten to spoil her before.

Today Bruce had bought the baby several cute headbands that he'd seen as well as a few onesies and several pairs of adorable baby shoes that he hadn't been able to resist. Previously, he had bought a few stuffed animals as well as storybooks. He'd bought her a few baby bottles and pacifiers as well.

Buying the items had been a careful balancing act since he had to make sure the tabloids didn't start running stories on him buying baby things, Alfred's conversations with Jason had revealed that Jason had some incredibly difficult feelings about Bruce that meant he likely wouldn't have reacted well to Bruce buying things for his daughter and Dick would be demanding information if he found out, but he had managed so far.

"I also wanted to ask you to pass on one more thing," Bruce told him. Pulling his coat off, he reached into the pocket and pulled out a small package wrapped in red paper. Like most of the other gifts, he had had this wrapped at the store in order to keep Alfred from having to wrap them himself. "I know Jason prefers Pride and Prejudice, but I found a first edition of _Emma_  that I thought he might enjoy."

As much as he wanted to spoil his second son the way he was his oldest and youngest, Bruce knew that giving Jason gifts was a trickier thing when they were being passed on from Alfred. Spoiling a baby was one thing, especially given that Alfred had said that Stephanie and Jason weren't having a baby shower, but Jason would find it strange for Alfred to give him more than two or three things.

Alfred's voice was soft as he said, "I am sure he will love it, Master Bruce. _Pride and Prejudice_  may be his favorite, but he's always had a soft spot for anything written by Austen."

Bruce thought about the times when Jason had come to breakfast exhausted and how Bruce had always been able to tell that he'd been up reading a book after patrol despite having been warned multiple times not to do so. Once, he had spent an entire breakfast telling Bruce how he would have stopped reading but he needed to see what happened to Elinor and Marianne in _Sense and Sensibility._  He thought about the times when he picked Jason up from school and the boy barely said hello, too focused on curling up in the front seat with his nose stuck in a book. On one of those times, it had been _Persuasion_  which had captured his son. He thought about how Jason had tended to ramble about books while they were on patrol, telling Bruce all about the plots and characters as they worked. One of the first times it had happened had been when Jason had read _Pride and Prejudice_  for the first time.

"I know," Bruce said, thinking about the book loving boy that he had known all those years ago. He wondered what books Jason had read since the last time they'd spoken, wondered if he still preferred classics to recently published, wondered if his favorite books were still the ones he had always loved. "I know."

* * *

**Month Eight: end of week thirty**

Bruce stepped into his bedroom.

As soon as the door was shut behind him, Bruce found himself sliding down until he was sitting on the floor. His body shook as he let himself go, tears running down his face and sobs bursting out from his lips.

He had kept it together as Alfred told him about his lunch with Jason, as Alfred told him how Jason had been upset at the idea of Bruce coming into his life again because Jason thought that Bruce had chosen the Joker over him and how Jason felt betrayed by the introduction of Tim to their family, but now Bruce allowed something inside of him to break.

He loved all of his other sons. He and Dick had their ups and downs, but Bruce had never stopped loving him. Even in the days when most of their meetings ended in shouting matches, Bruce had wanted nothing but to make his son understand that Bruce didn't want Dick to be a carbon copy of himself and that he was so incredibly proud of the man his son had become. Tim had come to him unexpectedly, but Bruce knew that without his youngest he would have still been torn in two. Tim hadn't fixed the hole in Bruce's heart that came from losing Jason, but Tim had settled in next to it and made it a little easier to deal with.

But Jason was different. Jason was Bruce's in a way that Dick and Tim weren't. Jason was the only one of Bruce's children who didn't have another dad, who had always been and always would be entirely Bruce's child. And the idea that that boy felt as if Bruce had abandoned him, that Bruce didn't love him with everything inside of him, tore into him in a way that nothing with Dick and Tim ever had.

All he had wanted when he took Jason in was to make the boy feel loved, to give him the care and attention and opportunities that his son had never had before. But Jason was willing to argue with the person he respected most in the world - Alfred - over Bruce not loving him.

Bruce had failed his son in the worst way possible and there was nothing in the world that could make him feel as terrible as that did.

* * *

**Month Ten: end of week thirty-six**

Bruce was quiet for a long time as Alfred finished telling him about the lunch he had had with Jason.

The two of them were sitting together in the car. Alfred having come to Wayne Enterprises to take Bruce home after the work day had finished.

"Okay," Bruce said at last. If respecting Jason's boundaries meant not asking about his daughter or having details of his son's life, than he would deal with that. Bruce didn't know if he would ever be lucky enough to have Jason in his life again - not when Bruce couldn't kill the Joker and didn't regret bringing Tim into the family even if he felt terrible about those things making Jason feel the way they did - but he didn't want to isolate his son from the family completely. Knowing that Alfred was taking care of Jason was better than Jason being completely separated from him. "I'm allowed to ask how he's doing though? And your allowed to let me know that he's happy and safe?"

"Yes," Alfred said. Bruce could hear how Alfred was torn between his relationship with Jason and his relationship with Bruce. He wished that his actions hadn't put the man who might as well have been his father in this situation.

There was a small beat before Bruce asked, "Is he? Happy and safe?"

"Yes, Master Bruce," Alfred told him. "He's happier than he has been in a long time."

Bruce thought about the thirteen year old boy that he had taken in. He thought about the boy with the guts to try and steal the tires off the batmobile, about the boy who looked around the manor with wide-eyed amazement, about the boy who had thrown himself at Bruce when he'd found out that they had set up a room for him that would be just his.

Bruce thought about the fourteen year old boy that he had raised. He thought about the boy who had complained about having to miss school when he was sick and was dramatic enough to get on his knees while begging Bruce to change his mind, about the boy who spent so much time with his head in books that Bruce had always expected the words to press themselves into Jason's skin, about the boy who grinned at him with chocolate around his mouth every time they had dessert after dinner.

Bruce thought about the fifteen year old he had lost. He thought about the boy who had withdrawn from the family as Bruce began to question whether he had made the right choice, about the boy who always seemed to be tense with anger and ready for a fight, about the boy who had felt so out of place with Bruce that he had looked for a mother he had never known.

"Good," Bruce told him. What he wanted the most in the world, even more than he wanted his son back in his life, was for his son to be comfortable and happy and enjoy his life. "I'm glad."

* * *

**Birth Day: between sections two and five**

"Excuse me." At the sound of Alfred's voice, frantic and hurrying, Bruce looked up from the conversation with the socialite he had been speaking to. Catching sight of Alfred making his way through the crowd and towards him, Bruce excused himself and then made his way towards the older man. As they drew close to each other, Alfred let out a slightly relieved but still frantic, "Master Bruce."

"Alfred, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong," Alfred dismissed. Bruce found that given the way the usually put together man looked, it was hard to believe what was coming from his mouth. "In fact, things are quite well. I checked my phone during a poker game and I had a message from Master Jason." Bruce's stomach dropped, worrying filling him. "It appears that Ms. Brown has gone into labor. He had called to request my presence at the hospital."

"Go ahead," Bruce said without hesitation. "Take the care. I'll call a cab to take me home once I'm done here."

"Are you quite sure? I could call a taxi for myself."

"Yes, absolutely. Go ahead." Then, quietly, Bruce said, "Please tell him that I said congratulations."

"I will." Alfred reached out, touching his fingers right above Bruce's elbow for just a second. "Of course, I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hello guys! Welcome to the first of two interludes! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> 2) interlude title is a quote from Prévost's Manon Lescaut
> 
> 3) Hopefully this chapter answers some of your questions about Bruce :)


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